Bulletin  No.  8 

U.  S.  DEPARTMENT   OF  AGRICULTURE 
DIVISION  W  ORNITHOLOGY  AND  KAMMALOGY 


THE 


JACK    RABBITS 


THE    UNITED    STATES 


BY 


T.  S.  PALMER,  M.  D. 

A«tsi>it;iiit    Cliiof    of    Division 


WASHINGTON 

GOVERN  M  E  N  T     P  R  I  N  T  ING     O  F  F  I  C  B 

1896 


LETTER  OF  TRANSMITTAL. 


United  States  Department  of  Agriculture, 

Division  of  Ornithology  and  Mammalogy, 

Washington,  D.  C,  October  19,  1895. 
Sir:  I  have  the  honor  to  transmit  and  to  recommend  for  publication 
as  Bulletin  No.  8  of  this  division  a  report  on  The  Jack  Babbits  of 
the  United  States,  by  Dr.  T.  S.  Palmer,  assistant  chief  of  division. 
Dr.  Palmer  has  prepared  the  whole  bulletin  and  is  responsible  for  all 
statements  made,  including  opinions  respecting  the  status  of  the  vari- 
ous species. 

Respectfully,  C.  Hart  Merriam, 

Chief  of  Division. 
Hon.  J.  Sterling  Morton, 

Secretary  of  Agriculture. 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2012  with  funding  from 

University  of  Florida,  George  A.  Smathers  Libraries  with  support  from  LYRASIS  and  the  Sloan  Foundation 


http://archive.org/details/jackrabbitsOOt_spa 


REPACK 


The  damage  clone  to  crops  by  rabbits  has  been  illustrated  very 
forcibly  during  recent  years  by  the  losses  sustained  by  farmers  and 
orchardists  in  the  arid  regions  of  the  West  through  the  depreda- 
tions of  the  large  native  hares,  or  jack  rabbits.  The  introduction  of 
irrigation  and  the  cultivation  of  large  tracts  of  land  have  favored  the 
increase  of  rabbits  in  several  States  by  furnishing  a  new  source  of 
food  supply.  To  such  an  extent  have  their  depredations  increased 
that  the  extermination  of  jack  rabbits  has  become  a  serious  question 
in  California,  Colorado,  Idaho,  Oregon,  and  Utah. 

The  objects  of  this  bulletin  are:  (1)  To  give  a  general  account  of  the 
distribution  and  habits  of  the  various  species  found  in  the  United 
States;  (2)  to  show  the  methods  which  have  been  used  to  exterminate 
the  animals  and  to  protect  crops  from  their  depredations;  and  (3)  to 
bring  together  facts  and  figures  concerning  the  economic  uses  of  rab- 
bits in  general,  for  the  purpose  of  indicating  how  our  native  species 
may  be  more  generally  utilized. 

The  disastrous  results  of  the  introduction  of  the  common  European 
rabbit  into  Australia  some  thirty  years  ago  are  known  the  world  over, 
and  nowhere  have  the  methods  of  destroying  rabbits  and  protecting 
crops  been  so  carefully  investigated  as  on  that  continent.  While  the  Old 
World  rabbit  belongs  to  an  entirely  different  species  from  the  jack  rab- 
bits of  the  West,  and  differs  from  them  in  habits,  some  of  the  Austra- 
lian methods  might  be  used  with  advantage  in  our  own  country.  The 
commercial  utilization  of  rabbits  has  been  attended  with  considerable 
success  in  Australia;  large  quantities  of  rabbits  are  used  for  food,  and 
an  immense  number  of  skins  are  annually  exported  to  England,  some 
of  which  find  their  way  to  the  markets  of  this  country.  Therefore, 
when  possible,  reference  has  been  made  to  experiments  in  Australia 
which  are  likely  to  be  of  benefit  in  the  United  States. 

It  is  obviously  impracticable  to  mention  the  many  persons  who  have 
contributed  data,  but  acknowledgments  are  due  to  all  who  have  aided 
in  the  preparation  of  this  report.  The  author,  however,  is  under  special 
obligations  to  Maj.  Ohas.  Bendire  and  to  Messrs.  M.  S.  Eeatherstone 
of  Goshen,  Cal.,  Henry  Lahann  of  Traver,  Cal.,  Geo.  W".  Stewart  and 
1).  K.  Zuinwalt  of  Visalia,  Cal.,  A.  Van   Deusen  of  Lamar,  Colo.,  and 


C)  PREFACE. 

to  Vernon  Bailey  and  J.  Ellis  McLellan,  Held  agents  of  the  division,  for 
many  valuable  notes.  More  than  five  hundred  letters  were  written  in 
the  course  of  the  investigation,  and  thus  a  large  amount  of  informa- 
tion lias  been  collected  which  could  not  otherwise  have  been  obtained. 
The  statistics  given  in  the  last  two  chapters  are  only  approximate,  and 
necessarily  incomplete,  but  any  corrections  or  additions  will  be  wel- 
comed, particularly  in  the  case  of  the  lists  of  rabbit  drives,  which  it 
is  desirable  to  make  as  complete  as  possible. 

T.  S.  Palmer. 


CONTENTS 


Page. 

Chapter  [.—Introduction 11 

General  habits 11 

Food 12 

I  tepredations 13 

Species  found  in  the  United  states 13 

Prairie  Hare  or  White-tailed  Jack  Rabbit  (Lepus  oampestris) II 

California  Jack  Rabbit  (Lepus  californious) 17 

Black-tailed  or  Texan  .Jack  Rabbit  (Lepus  texianvs) lit 

Black-eared  .lack  Rabbit  (Lepus  melanotic) 21 

Allen's  Jack  Rabbit  (  Lepus  alleui) 22 

Chapter  II.— Abundance  and  Rapidity  of  Increase 24 

Breeding  habits 25 


Number  of  young  in  a  litter 


25 

Time  of  birth 27 

Chaptrb  III. — Injury  to  Crops  and  Means  of  Protection 30 

Injury  to  grain,  orchards,  etc 30 

Protection  of  orchards  and  crops 32 

By  fences 33 

Protection  of  single  trees 34 

Smears 3  I 

Chaptrb  IV. — Methods  of  Destruction 36 

Inoculation 36 

Methods  used  in  Australia 37 

Poison 38 

Bounties 1<> 

California 40 

Idaho 41 

Oregon 42 

Texas 42 

Utah 43 

Expenditures  in  Australia 43 

Natural  enemies 44 

Epidemics 45 

Chapter  V.— Rabbit  Drives  and  Hums 47 

California 47 

Origin  of  the  drives 52 

Results  of  the  drives 57 

<  Oregon 5!) 

Rabbit  hunts 60 

Utah 60 

Idaho 62 

( lolorado  63 

Summary .' 01 

Chaptrb  VI. — Value  of  the  Jack  Rabbit (;:> 

Coursing 66 

skins 68 

Jack  rabbits  as  game 71 

Parasites 71 

How  the  game  is  killed  and  shipped 72 

The  market 71 

General  summary  and  conclusions 78 

Articles  on  Rabbits 80 

7 


1ST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


PLATES. 

Opposite  p 

Frontispiece.     Rabbit  driving    in    the    San   Joaquin   Valley,  California — The 
Grand  Army  drive  at  Fresno,  March  12,  1892.    (From  photograph  by  Stiffler.  i 

I.  Hap  showing  distribution  of  jack  rabbits  in  the  United  States 11 

II.   Distribution  of  the  California  and  Texan  .lack  Rabbits 18 

III.  A  jack  rabbit  drive  near  Fresno,  Cal.,  May  5.  1894  —  Rabbits  entering  the 

corral 17 

IV.  Result  of  the  Grand  Army  rabbit  drive  at   Fresno,  Cal. — 20.000  rabbits 

killed.     (From  photograph  by  Stihier) "1 

V.   Map  showing  location  of  rabbit  drives  in  southern  California 55 

VI.   Result  of  the  jack  rabbit  hunt  at  Lamar,  Colo.,  December  22,  1894—5,142 

rabbits  killed.     (From  photograph  by  Hallack) 63 

TEXT  FIGURES. 

1.  Diagram  showing  form  of  corral  used  in  the  rabbit   drive   at   Bakersfield, 

Cal.,  January   15,  1888.     (From   Am.  Field.  1888) I!» 

2.  Diagram  showing  form  of  portable  corral  used  by  the  Goshen  Rabbit  Drive 

Club.     (From  M.  S.  Feat  heist  one  | 50 


THE  IACK  RABBITS  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


By  T.  s.  Palmer,  M.  I). 


(II AFTER  I. 


INTRODUCTION. 


The  Great  Plains  and  deserts  of  the  western  United  States  are 
inhabited  by  several  species  of  large  bares,  commonly  known  as  'jack 
rabbits.'  These  rabbits  occur  almost  everywhere,  except  in  the  higher 
mountains  and  in  wooded  regions,  from  the  ninety-tilth  meridian  west 
to  the  Pacific,  and  from  the  Plains  of  the  Saskatchewan  southward  over 
the  table-land  of  Mexico  to  the  Isthmus  of  Tehuan tepee.  The  resein 
blance  of  their  large  ears  to  those  of  the  well-known  pack  animal  of  the 
West  has  suggested  the  common  names  of  'jackass  hares,'  'jack  rab- 
bits,71 or  'jacks.'  In  some  parts  of  California  jack  rabbits  are  called 
'narrow-gauge  mules'  and  'small  mules,'  but  fortunately  these  absurd 
terms  are  very  local,  and  not  likely  to  come  in  general  use.  In  the  South- 
west and  beyond  the  Rio  Grande  the  large  hares  are  called 'liebres* 
by  the  Mexicans,  to  distinguish  them  from  the  cotton-tail  rabbits,  or 
'eonejos.' 

GENERAL    HABITS. 

Jack  rabbits  may  be  seen  abroad  at  almost  any  hour  of  the  day.  and 
hence  are  likely  to  be  recognized  by  the  most  casual  observer,  and  are 
perhaps  better  known  than  most  other  native  mammals.  Living  as  they 
do  on  the  open  plain,  where  they  are  compelled  to  rely  for  safety  on 
quickness  of  hearing  and  on  speed,  their  ears  and  hind  legs  are  devel- 
oped to  an  extraordinary  degree.  This  gives  them  a  somewhat  grotesque 
appearance,  but  in  reality  few  animals  are  more  graceful  as  they  bound 
along  when  once  thoroughly  alarmed.  In  spite  of  an  unfortunate  name 
and  seeming  awkwardness  of  gait,  a  closer  acquaintance  with  their 

Tins  name  Beems  to  have  been  first  introduced  by  Auduhon  and  liaehman  in  1851. 

In  referring  to  one  of  the  species  found  alon^  the  Mexican  border  tins  -ay:  "This 
species  is  called  the  jackass  rabbit  in  Texas,  owing  t<»  t  he  Length  <>r  it-  cars."  |  Quad. 
N.  Am..  II.  1851,  p.  99);  and  again,  in  reference  to  Lepus  texianus,  "This  bare  received 

from  the  Texana  ami  from  our  troop.s  in  the  Mexican  war  the  name  of  jackass  rahl.it. 

in  common  with  Ltpus  callotit"    (Ibid.,  III.  p.  157.) 

11 


12  JACK    RABBITS    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 

habits  will  reveal  many  points  of  interest  and  will  arouse  admiration 
for  bhe  way  in  which  they  seem  to  overcome  every  adverse  condition 
of  life,  so  admirably  arc  they  adapted  to  their  Surroundings. 

Unlike  the  cotton-tails,  or  the  common  rabbit  of  Europe,  these 
bares  do  not  live  in  burrows,  but  make  ' forms'  under  bushes  or  in 
patches  of  weeds,  where  they  find  protection  from  the  weather,  and 
also  bring  forth  their  young.  Certain  shrubs  in  the  West  belonging 
to  the  genus  Bigelovia  are  commonly  known  as  'rabbit  brush,7 because 
they  grow  in  dense  thickets,  in  which  rabbits  are  fond  of  hiding. 
Where  there  are  no  bushes,  the  rabbits  seek  the  shade  of  any  objects 
which  can  shield  them  from  the  burning  rays  of  the  sun.  A  traveler  on 
the  Southern  Pacific  Kailroad,  crossing  the  barren  plains  of  the  San 
Joaquin  Valley  in  California,  where  large  stretches  of  country  are 
devoid  of  bushes,  may  sometimes  see  the  jack  rabbits  crouching  in  the 
shadows  of  the  telegraph  poles,  evidently  alarmed  by  the  train,  but 
uncertain  whether  or  not  to  forsake  their  shady  spots  and  seek  safety 
in  flight. 

Extremes  of  climate  apparently  do  not  affect  them  to  any  great 
extent.  Some  species  are  at  home  on  the  deserts  of  Arizona  and  Cali- 
fornia; others,  as  the  Prairie  Hare,  contrive  to  exist  in  the  intense  cold 
of  a  Montana  winter,  when  the  ground  is  covered  with  snow,  and  they 
are  compelled  to  live  on  the  bark  of  shrubs  or  of  willows  growing  along 
the  streams. 

Food. — Like  other  rabbits,  they  feed  almost  exclusively  on  the  bark 
and  leaves  of  shrubs  and  on  herbage,  and  hardly  any  land  is  too  poor 
to  supply  this  food  in  some  form. 

On  the  Great  Plains,  buffalo  and  grama  grass  and  such  herbs  as 
they  can  find  constitute  their  principal  fare,  but  this  is  supplemented 
in  winter  by  the  bark  of  willows.  In  the  deserts  of  the  Great  Basin 
they  seem  to  be  especially  fond  of  the  tender  annual  species  of  grease- 
wood  (Atrvplex)  and  several  species  of  cactus.  If  nothing  better  is 
obtainable,  however,  they  can  subsist  on  Sarcobatus,  and  shrubs  which 
other  animals  seldom  touch.  Sometimes  it  is  difficult  to  see  where  they 
can  obtain  sufficient  food,  but  lack  of  water  and  of  green  herbage  serve 
only  to  reduce  their  numbers  and  rarely  cause  their  complete  absence 
from  any  region.  Among  the  greasewood  on  the  alkali  flats  northwest 
of  Great  Salt  Lake,  or  on  the  cactus  covered  deserts  of  Arizona,  the 
jack  rabbits  are  almost  as  fat  and  sleek  as  when  feeding  in  the 
a  1  full;!  patches  and  vineyards  of  southern  California.  If  necessary 
they  can  travel  long  distances  for  food,  but  as  they  seldom  drink, 
scarcity  of  water  causes  them  little  inconvenience,  and  the  juicy  cac- 
tus 'pads'  or  ordinary  desert  herbage  furnish  all  the  moisture  neces- 
sary to  slake  their  thirst.  They  are  fond  of  vegetables  and  alfalfa,  and 
when  t  liese  can*be  had  they  quickly  abandon  their  usual  food  and  establish 
themselves  near  t  he  garden  or  cultivated  field.  Their  fondness  for  tender 
bark  makes  them  particularly  destructive  in  the  orchard  and  vineyard, 


SPECIES.  13 

where  they  are  likely  to  do  irreparable  injury  by  girdling  young  fruit 
trees  and  vines. 

As  jack  rabbits  multiply  rapidly  they  often  become  great  pests. 
They  have  comparatively  few  natural  enemies,  and  if  not  held  in  check 
by  other  agencies  would  doubtless  overrun  the  country.  Their  undue 
increase  is  prevented  ordinarily  by  lack  of  food,  by  unfavorable  climatic 
conditions,  or  by  disease.  Many  die  during  unusually  severe  winters: 
a  cold,  wet  spring  is  disastrous  to  t lie  young,  and  thousands  of  young 
and  old  perish  during  the  epidemics  which  occasionally  break  out  among 
them  over  large  sections  of  country.  Nevertheless,  tbey  can  adapt 
themselves  to  circumstances  to  such  an  extent  as  to  be  able  not  only 
to  hold  their  own  under  most  unfavorable  conditions,  but  to  increase 
rapidly  whenever  food  is  abundant. 

Depredations. — The  experience  of  settlers  in  the  San  Joaquin  Valley, 
California,  along  the  Arkansas  River  in  southeastern  Colorado,  and 
in  southwestern  Idaho  lias  shown  that  where  new  land  1ms  been  culti- 
vated or  irrigated  jack  rabbits  fairly  swarm  in  from  the  surrounding 
country,  and  instead  of  being  driven  out  by  advancing  civilization,  at 
first  multiply  so  enormously  that  radical  measures  have  to  be  adopted 
to  protect  the  crops  from  destruction. 

Some  idea  of  the  extent  of  these  injuries  can  be  formed,  when  it  is 
stated  that  the  damage  caused  by  jack  rabbits  to  the  crops  in  Tulare 
County,  Cal.,  during  a  single  year  has  been  estimated  at  $000,000,  and 
one  county  in  Idaho  has  actually  exjiended  more  than  $30,000  in  boun- 
ties on  these  pests !  The  money  spent  by  individual  farmers  in  the  West 
on  rabbit  fences  and  other  devices  for  protecting  crops  would  aggregate 
a  very  large  sum,  which  it  is  impossible  even  to  estimate.  But  the  thou- 
sands of  rabbits  destroyed  for  bounties  and  the  tens  of  thousands  killed 
in  the  large  hunts  and  by  epidemics  seem  to  diminish  the  abundance 
of  the  species  only  in  localities  where  a  large  part  of  the  land  is  under 
cultivation  and  the  animals  are  systematically  killed  oft'  year  after  year. 

Jack  rabbits  are  largely  used  for  food  and  for  sport.  In  a  fair  race 
they  can  outstrip  all  but  the  best  hounds  and  can  even  keep  abreast  of 
a  railway  train  running  at  a  moderate  speed  for  some  distance.  For 
coursing  the  native  species  are  considered  equal,  if  not  superior,  to  the 
Old  World  hares.  Large  quantities  are  shipped  to  market  every  year 
as  game,  ami  the  trade  is  capable  of  considerable  increase.  The  skins 
might  also  be  saved  with  profit,  but  the  value  of  jack  rabbits,  whether 
for  food  or  for  fur,  by  no  means  offsets  the  immense  damage  which  they 
do  to  crops. 

SPECIES   FOUND    IN    THE    UNITED    STATES. 

This  group  of  rabbits  is  unfortunately  in  a  somewhat  chaotic  con- 
dition, and  it  will  be  impossible  to  treat  the  species  satisfactorily  until 
they  have  been  subjected  to  a  thorough  revision.  A  technical  discus- 
sion of  their  characters  and  relationships  does  not  come  within  the 


14  JACK    RABBITS    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 

scope  of  this  bulletin,  however  desirable  it  might  be  to  consider  these 
questions.  For  the  presenl  it  will  be  sufficient  merely  to  give  the 
.species  now  generally  recognized,  with  the  full  knowledge  that  their 
status  and  nomenclature  are  likely  to  undergo  considerable  modifica- 
tion in  the  near  future.  Such  a  course  is  unsatisfactory,  but  unavoid- 
able under  the  circumstances. 

For  convenience,  the  jack  rabbits  which  occur  in  the  United  States 
maybe  divided  into  two  groups,  according  to  the  color  of  the  upper 
surface  of  the  tail.1  In  the  first  group,  represented  by  the  Prairie  Hare 
(Lepus  oampestris) — the  only  jack  rabbit  which  ever  turns  white  in 
winter — the  tail  is  entirely  white.  In  the  second  group  the  upper  sur- 
face of  the  tail  is  marked  by  a  more  or  less  distinct  stripe  of  black. 
Four  or  more  black-tailed  rabbits  have  been  described  from  the  West: 
( 1 )  A  buff-bellied  species  found  in  California  and  southwestern  Oregon 
(Lepus  calif ornicus);  (2)  a  large,  long-limbed  species  inhabiting  south- 
ern Arizona  and  Sonora,  known  as  Allen's  Hare  (Lepus  alleni))  (3)  a 
widely  distributed  white  bellied  animal  with  long  ears,  occurring  in  the 
(heat  Basin  and  commonly  known  as  the  Texan  Jack  Babbit  (Lepus 
texianus),  and  (4)  the  Black-eared  Jack,  or  Eastern  Jackass  Hare  of  the 
Great  Plains  (Lepus  melanotis),  very  closely  related  to  the  Texan  Hare, 
but  differing  from  it  in  possessing  shorter  ears  and  richer  coloring. 

One  or  more  Mexican  species  cross  the  southern  border  of  the  United 
States  and  are  found  in  the  extreme  southern  part  of  Texas,  but  their 
range  within  our  limits  is  so  restricted  that  they  will  not  be  considered 
further. 

Prairie  Hare  or  White-tailed  Jack  Rabbit. 

(Lepus  campestris  Bachnian.) 

The  Prairie  Hare  was  first  discovered  by  Lewis  and  Clark  on  their 
memorable  trip  across  the  continent  in  1804-1806,  although  not  actually 
named  until  1837.2    They  described  it  as  follows: 

The  hare  [Lepus  campestris']  on  this  side  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  iiihah its  the  great 
plains  of  the  Columbia.  Eastward  of  those  mountains  they  mhahit  the  plains  of  the 
Missouri.  They  weigh  from  7  to  11  pounds.  *  *  *  The  head,  neck,  hack,  shoul- 
ders, thighs,  and  outer  part  of  the  legs  are  of  a  lead  color;  the  sides,  as  they 
approach  the  hclly  become  gradually  more  white;  the  belly,  breast,  and  inner  part 
of  the  legs  and  thighs  are  white,  with  a  light  shade  of  lead  color;  the  tail  is  round 
and  bluntly  pointed,  covered  with  white,  soft,  fine  fur,  not  quite  so  long  as  on  the 
other  parts  of  the  body;  the  body  is  covered  with  a  deep,  fine,  soft,  close  fur.  The 
colors  line  described  are  those  which  the  animal  assumes  from  the  middle  of  April 
bo  the  middle  <>l'  November;  the  rest  of  the  year  he  is  pure  white,  except  the  black 
and  reddish-brown  of  the  ears,  which  never  change.  A  few  reddish-brown  spots 
are  sometimes  intermixed  with  the  white  at  this  season  [February  26, 1806J  on  the 
head  and  the  upper  part  of  the  neck  and  shoulders.  *  *  *  II is  food  is  grass  and 
herbs;  in  winter  he  feeds  much  on  the  bark  of  several  aromatic  herbs  growing  on 


'.lack  rabbits  never  nun  the   tail  up  like  cotton-tails,  and  hence  it  is  easy  to  tell 
at  a  distance  whether  the  color  of  (he  upper  surface  is  black  or  white. 
Bachman,  Journ.  A.  ad.  Nat.Sci.,  Philadelphia,  Vol.  VII,  1837,  p.  340. 


PRAIRIE    HARE.  15 

the  plains.  Captain  Lewis  measured  the  Leaps  of  this  animal,  and  found  them 
commonly  from  18  to  21  feet.  They  are  generally  found  separate,  and  are  never 
seen  to  associate  in  greater  numbers  than  two  or  three. 

The  White-tailed  Jack  Rabbit  has  an  extended  range  in  the  northern 
part  of  the  Great  Basin  and  on  theGreal  Plains.  It  is  said  to  be  found 
as  far  north  as  latitude  55c  in  Saskatchewan  and  ranges  eastward  to 
Lake  Winnipeg,  Elk  River,  .Minnesota,  and  central  [owa.  On  the 
south  it  is  not  found  on  the  plains  much  below  central  Kansas  and 
southern  Colorado— Fori  Riley  and  Pendennis,  Kans..  and  has  Animas, 
Colo., being  near  its  southern  limits.  On  the  Rocky  Mountain  plateau, 
however,  it  goes  a  little  farther  south  and  has  been  taken  at  Fort  Gar- 
land, Colo.,  and  at  Kanab,  Utah.  The  Sierra  Nevada  and  Cascade 
liange  mark  the  limits  of  its  western  distribution,  but  it  occurs  in  the 
Sierra  as  far  south  as  Hope  Valley  (lat.  38°  30'),  and  probably  as  far  as 
latitude  30°. 

Although  called  l Prairie  Hare,' it  ranges  high  up  in  the  mountains — 
at  least  in  summer — higher  than  any  other  jack  rabbit.  In  August, 
1891,  I  Baw  a  large  rabbit,  probably  belonging  to  this  species,  at  an 
altitude  of  about  10,000  feet  in  the  Sierra  Nevada,  about  20  miles  south 
of  Mount  Whitney.  Signs  of  their  presence  have  been  found  in  the 
Rocky  Mountains  far  above  timber  line  and  nearly  to  the  summits  of  the 
higher  peaks.  It  is  hardly  probable  that  jack  rabbits  spend  the  winter 
at  such  altitudes,  but  the  upper  limit  of  their  winter  range  still  remains 
to  be  ascertained.  Abundant  food  in  the  mountain  meadows  and  above 
timber  line  probably  tempts  them  to  ascend  from  lower  levels  in  summer 
just  as  cultivated  iields  on  the  plains  attract  them  from  a  distance. 

In  the  mountains  and  in  the  northern  part  of  their  range  they  become 
pure  white  in  winter,  but  in  Kansas,  Nebraska,  Washington,  and  else- 
where near  the  southern  limit  of  their  habitat  they  undergo  only  a 
partial  change,  or  do  not  turn  white  at  all.  In  southern  Oregon  the 
rabbits  inhabiting  the  higher  mountains  are  said  to  turn  white  in  win- 
ter, while  a  little  lower  down  they  undergo  only  a  oartial  change  and 
in  the  valleys  do  not  assume  the  white  pelage. 

This  species  probably  never  occurs  in  such  numbers  as  the  Black- 
tailed  Jack  Rabbit,  even  under  the  most  favorable  circumstances.  Dr. 
('ones  speaks  of  it  on  the  Great  Plains  as  follows: 

Nor  is   tin-    Prairie    Hare    in   the   least  gregarious.      I  have  never  seen  nor  heard 
of  several  together,  and  indeed  it  la  rare  to  find  even  two  together,  at  any  - 
whatever.     It   is    one   of    the    most    solitary    animals    with   which    I    have    become 
acquainted.  I   have  never  found  any  kind  of  locality  even,  which.   pre- 

Benting  special  attractions,  might  invite  many  hares  together.  All  places  are  alike 
to  them:  the  oldest  frontiersman,  probably,  could  aever  gness  with  any  degree  of 
cm  taint  \  where  the  ne\i  hare  to  hound  off  before  him  would  appear.  1  f  it  have  any 
preference,  however,  it  is  for  -weedy'  tracts,  of  which  the  sage-brash  regions  furnish 
the  hot  examples:  there  it  finds  shelter  which  the  Low,  crisp,  grass  of  rolling  prairie 
does  not  afford,  and  also  doubtless  secure  ber  variety  of  i 


Cones   Edition  Hist.Exped.  Lewis  and  Clark,  Vol. Ill,  1893, pp 865  866. 
-'  Bull.  Essex  Institute.  VII    L875  .  1876,  pp.  80-81, 


18  JACK    RABBITS    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 

The  true  California  animal  was  formerly  supposed  to  extend  east- 
ward to  the  Colorado  River  and  Arizona,  but  more  recent  investigations 
show  that  it  is  restricted  entirely  to  the  region  west  of  the  Sierra. 
litre,  where  the  chaparral-covered  slopes  of  the  foothills  dip  down  to 
the  valleys,  it  is  most  at  home,  mainly  below  an  altitude  of  3,000 
feet.  Barely  docs  it  range  above  5,000  feet,  although  in  one  instance 
at  least,  on  Mount  Pifios,  it  has  been  found  higher  than  8,000  feet. 
But  the  individuals  found  at  these  higher  levels  are  few  in  number, 
and  are  probably  only  stragglers  which  have  wandered  up  from  the 
lower  foothills.  It  avoids  the  dark,  damp  forests  of  the  redwood  belt 
on  the  Northwest  coast ;  but  finding  suitable  localities  beyond  the 
limits  of  its  native  State,  it  has  crossed  the  Siskiyou  Mountains  and 
taken  possession  of  the  Eogue  Eiver  and  Umpqua  valleys  in  Oregon, 
aud  is  known  to  range  as  far  north  as  Comstock,  in  Douglas  County. 
Mr.  Clark  P.  Streator  reports  that  a  single  specimen,  probably  a  strag- 
gler, was  killed  near  Eugene,  at  the  head  of  the  Willamette  Valley, 
about  November  20,  1893.  To  the  south  this  species  extends  some 
distance  down  the  peninsula  of  Lower  California. 

While  the  limits  of  certain  portions  of  this  range  are  readily  under- 
stood from  well-marked  conditions  of  climate  and  topography,  it  is  by 
no  means  easy  to  explain  the  invisible  but  apparently  sharply  defined 
lines  which  separate  the  California  and  Texan  rabbits  in  the  great 
interior  valley  of  California.  Here  they  probably  mingle  with  one 
another,  but  at  no  point  are  their  habitats  known  to  overlap  to 
any  great  extent.  Nor  is  it  clear  why  the  Texan  Jack  Rabbit,  which 
extends  up  the  east  slope  of  the  Sierra  as  high  as  7,000  feet  and  over 
Walker  pass  (altitude  5,300  feet),  should  occupy  only  the  bottom  of  the 
San  Joaquin  Valley  below  2,000  feet.  This  part  of  its  range  is  inclosed 
on  both  sides  by  that  of  Lepus  calif  or  nicus^  which  is  here  restricted  to 
the  foothills,  but  which  spreads  out  to  the  north  and  covers  the  whole 
expanse  of  the  Sacramento  Valley,  as  well  as  the  slopes  of  the  Sierra 
Nevada  and  Coast  Ranges.  Briefly  stated,  the  white-bellied  species  is 
found  in  the  bottom  of  the  San  Joaquin  Valley,  while  the  buff-bellied 
animal  occupies  the  Sacramento  Valley  and  the  adjacent  foothills,  as 
well  as  those  surrounding  the  San  Joaquin  Plains. 

The  California  Jack  Rabbit  is  nowhere  as  abundant  as  the  Texan 
species.  In  some  portions  of  the  Coast  Range  only  two  or  three  indi- 
viduals will  be  found  over  a  large  extent  of  country,  and  it  is  quite 
rare  in  some  of  the  valleys  southeast  of  San  Franciso  Bay;  but  this  is 
due  mainly  to  the  settlement  of  the  country,  and  the  various  means 
adopted  for  its  extermination.  It  is  perhaps  most  abundant  in  the 
Rogue  Kiver  Valley,  Oregon,  along  the  western  slope  of  the  central 
part  of  the  Siena  Nevada,  and  in  the  San  Gabriel  and  San  Bernardino 
valleys. 

In  speaking  of  the  California  species  T.  S.  Van  Dyke1  says:  "Few 
animals    are   more  graceful  than    this    hare,  whether    skimming   the 


1  Southern  California,  188G,  p.  131. 


Bull.  8,  Div.  Ornithology  and  Mammalogy,  U.  S.  Dept.  Agncultur 


Plate  II. 


\   •— -■••".-/f '^V¥' .Tetania  \ix. 


\ 


p.wZ^tW 


ccs7   I 


Ic^rey  •       '•:&,.  •Lo..ePx,te    xpul-„aceLrt'-/L 

S*n.  Luis  Obis  pol}.'*. ••••.,•  ^aJiersJieW^i1'*'     afciilv-  «#      — b5 


113' 


dR» 


°"QlK    lit*? 


DlSTRIBUTION   OF   CALIFORNIA   AND   TEXAN   JACK    RABBITS. 
Dotted  area  =  California  Jack  Rabbit ;  spots  outside  this  area  show  where  the  Texan  Rabbit  has  been  collected. 


TEXAN    JACK    RABBIT.  19 

plain  before  the  outstretched  greyhound  or  aroused  from  his  'form' 
he  dashes  away  with  high  jumps,  as  if  to  take  a  better  view  of  the 
intruder,  or  stopping  and  rearing  upon  his  hind  legs,  stands  erect,  with 
ears  pointed  at  the  zenith  and  surveys  him  at  sale  distance,  then 
again  lengthens  out  his  trim  form  and  hugs  the  ground  like  a  racer 
until  a  mile  away.  Sometimes  at  early  morning  or  evening  you  may 
see  him  scudding  along  the  plain  as  if  in  play,  running  2  or  -">  miles, 
perhaps,  most  of  the  time  at  highspeed.  *  *  *  A  line  runner  he 
is,  too,  and  gifted  with  good  staying  qualities.  It  takes  a  good  grey- 
hound to  overtake  the  best  of  them,  while  the  slowest  ones  distance  a 
common  dog  at  every  bound." 


Black-tailed  Jack  Rabbit,  Texan  Jack  Rabbit. 
(Lepu8  texianu8  Waterhonse.1) 

This  hare  is  pale-gray  above,  often  tinged  with  brownish  and  mixed 
with  black;  the  lower  surface  of  the  body  and  tail  is  white,  while  the 
tips  of  the  ears  and  upper  part  of  the  tail  are  distinctly  marked  with 
black.  In  length  it  measures  about  25J  inches  (G47  mm.2)  from  the  tip 
of  the  nose  to  the  end  of  the  tail  vertebme  and  weighs  4  or  5  pounds. 
The  ears  average  6%  inches  (171  mm.)  but  the  tail  is  only  4£  inches  (109 
mm.)  in  length.  The  Black-tailed  Hare  is  smaller  than  either  the  Prairie 
Hare  or  Allen's  Hare,  but  is  about  the  same  size  as  the  California  Jack 
Babbit.  Specimens  from  southern  Arizona  are  not  as  large  as  those 
from  the  central  part  of  the  Territory  and  other,  portions  of  the  Great 
Basin  region,  and  for  this  reason  have  been  recently  separated  by  Dr. 
J.A.Allen3  as  a  subspecies  or  race  called  the  Desert  Hare  (Lepus 
texianus  rrcmicus). 

Usually  it  is  not  difficult  to  distinguish  the  Black-tailed  Hare  from 
other  species  found  in  the  same  region.  In  the  northern  parts  of  its 
range  it  occurs  along  with  the  Prairie  Hare  in  some  parts  of  Oregon, 
Washington,  Idaho,  Colorado,  Nebraska,  and  Kansas,  but  here  the  lat- 
ter {Lepus  campextris)  may  be  recognized  by  its  white  tail,  larger  size, 
and  more  or  less  complete  change  of  pelage  in  winter — no  black-tailed 
species  showing  any  tendency  to  turn  white  in  winter. 

The  Texan  Babbit  will  hardly  be  confused  with  the  larger  and  longer 
limbed  Allen's  Hare  in  southern  Arizona,  after  they  have  once  been 
seen  together,  but  it  is  sometimes  difficult  to  distinguish  it  from  the 
California  Jack.  Although  typical  specimens  of  the  latter  arc  bull 
Instead  of  white  below  and  have  the  lower  surface  of  the  tail  buff,  those 
from  the  foothills  bordering  the  San  Joaquin  Valley  in  California  are 


'Under  tin-  name  are  included  all  the  black-tailed  .jack  rabbits,  except  Eepiw  alk  ni, 

which  arc  found  from  the  Rocky  Mountains  west  to  the  Sierra  Nevada  and  Cascade 
Range. 

-Average  of  9  specimens  collected  by  l>r.  E.  A.  ftleams  at  Fori  Verde,  Ariz.  (Bull. 
Am.  Mas.  Nat  Hist.,  II,  Feb.  1890,  902. 

3Ibid.,  VI,  Dec.  20,  1894,  pp.  347-348. 


20  JACK    RAKBITS    OF   THE   UNITED    STATES. 

frequently  bo  light  in  color  as  to  closely  resemble  the  white-bellied 
Texan  Babbit. 

The  Black-tailed  -luck  Rabbit  is  found  in  the  Great  Basin  from  the 
Rocky  Mountains  west  to  the  Cascade  Range  in  Oregon  and  to  the 
Sierra  Nevada  in  California,  and  from  central  Idaho  and  southeastern 
Washington  south  to  Mexico.  Its  range  extends  eastward  into  west- 
ern Texas  and  some  distance  down  the  Rio  Grande.  West  of  the 
Sierra  it  has  a  most  remarkable  distribution  in  a  narrow  strip  along  the 
bottom  of  the  San  Joaquin  Valley  from  the  Tejon  Mountains  nearly  as 
far  north  as  latitude  38°.  It  gains  access  to  the  valley  from  the  Mohave 
Desert  by  way  of  Walker  Pass  (altitude  5,300  feet)  and  probably  also 
by  the  Canada  cle  las  Uvas  (altitude  4,300  feet).  It  is  distinctly  an 
animal  of  the  deserts  and  plains  and  nowhere  ascends  to  very  high 
altitudes. 

In  southern  Arizona  and  on  the  Colorado  Desert  in  California  the 
Texan  Jack  Rabbit  is  usually  seen  singly  or  in  groups  of  only  two 
or  three  individuals,  while  in  Kansas,  eastern  Colorado,  and  some 
portions  of  the  Great  Basin  large  numbers  are  often  found  together. 
Its  abundance  or  scarcity  is  usually  governed  by  local  conditions — an 
unusually  cold  winter,  an  epidemic  or  a  dry  year  in  which  food  is 
scarce,  may  so  reduce  its  numbers  as  to  make  the  species  appear  rare 
where  ordinarily  it  is  abundant.  When  food  supply  or  other  conditions 
favor  its  increase  it  is  gregarious  to  a  high  degree,  and  occurs  in 
immense  numbers. 

Forty  years  ago  Dr.  George  Suckley  found  these  rabbits  very  abun- 
dant south  of  the  Boise  River,  on  his  trip  through  southwestern 
Idaho,  in  September,  1854. '  He  says :  "  They  are  so  numerous  that  our 
command  of  GO  men  subsisted  on  them  for  nearly  a  week.  In  a  short 
ride  of  an  hour's  duration  to  see  30  near  the  trail  was  nothing  remark- 
able. *  *  *  This  hare  breeds  in  great  numbers  on  the  vast  sage 
plains  at  the  South  Boise  River,  between  it  and  the  Snake  River." 

More  recently,  in  1878,  Maj.  Chas.  Bendire  found  them  in  immense 
numbers  in  the  Payette  Valley,  in  southwestern  Idaho,  where  fully  150 
were  seen  together  one  morning  near  Payette  River  Ferry.  At  this 
point  there  was  a  small  grass-covered  island  to  which  the  rabbits  could 
cross  from  the  river  bank  by  a  bridge.  When  startled  they  merely 
loped  away  for  a  few  yards  and  then  stopped  to  ascertain  the  cause  of 
the  disturbance.  A  writer  in  'Forest  and  Stream'2  states  that  in  the 
vicinity  of  Austin,  Nev.,  jack  rabbits  are  exceedingly  abundant,  and 
thai  487  had  been  killed  in  eight  hours  by  a  party  of  12  hunters. 

But  the  Texan  Jack  Rabbit  is  most  abundant  in  the  southern  part  of 
the  San  Joaquin  Valley  from  latitude  37°  southward,  where  the  condi- 
tions  for  its  existence  are  so  favorable  that  it  is  still  able  to  hold 
its  ground  in  spite  of  the  great  numbers  annually  slaughtered  by  drives. 

1  Pacific  Railroad  Reports,  XII,  Book  2,  1860,  Chap.  II,  p.  105. 
"  Vol.  XVIII,  Apr,  20,  1882,  p.  229. 


BLACK-EARED    JACK    RABBIT.  21 

Iii  the  summer  of  L891  I  saw  large  numbers  just  south  of  the  town  of 

Bakersfield.  At  least  a  hundred  were  in  sight  at  once,  and  wer< 
tame  that  they  paid  little  attention  to  teams  passing  along  the  road, 
and  would  allow  a  person  to  approach  within  a  lew  feel  before  moving. 
Dr.  A.  K.  Fisher  and  Mr.  Vernon  Bailey  also  saw  thousands  of  jack 
rabbits  between  Bakersfield  and  Visalia  only  a  lew  weeks  later.  At 
one  point  just  north  of  Delano,  Tulare  County,  at  Least  100  scampered 
away  at  a  single  discharge  of  a  gun. 

Eeferring  to  the  habits  of  the  Black-tailed  Jack  Babbit  in  Arizona. 
Dr.  Cones1  writes: 

At  Fort  Whipple,  the  species  is  very  common  the  year  round,  and  almosl  every 
sort  of  locality  is  frequented  by  them,  though  they  chiefly  affect  grassy  meadows 
and  open  glades,  interspersed  with  copses,  or  clumps  of  oak  trees,  or  patches  of 
briery  undergrowth.    The  gulches,  or  'washes,'  as  they  are  called,  hading  out  of 

mountain  ravines,  and  thickly  set  with  grease- wood  (Obione  [A  triplex]  canescenn),  are 
favorite  resorts.  They  Iced  much  upon  this  plant,  and  by  their  incessant  coursings 
through  patches  of  it  they  wear  little  intersecting  avenues,  along  which  they  ramble 
at  their  leisure.  When  feeding  at  their  ease,  and  unsuspicious  of  danger,  they  move 
with  a  sort  of  lazy  abandon,  performing  a  succession  of  careless  leaps,  now  nibbling 
the  shrubs  overhead,  now  the  grass  at  their  feet.  They  are  not  at  all  gregarious, 
though  peculiar  attractions  may  bring  many  together  in  the  same  spot.  They  do 
not  burrow,  but  construct  a  '  form '  in  which  they  squat.  I  do  not  think  these  are 
permanent;  but  rather  that  they  are  extemporized,  as  wanted,  in  some  convenient 
bush;  though  the  case  may  be  different  during  the  season  of  reproduction.  It  has 
been  stated  by  some  authors,  that  only  two  or  three  are  produced  at  a  birth,  which  I 
know  to  be  at  least  not  always  the  case,  having  found  as  many  as  six  embryos  in  the 
multipartite  womb  of  a  pregnant  female.  In  the  latitude  of  Fort  Whipple  the 
young  are  brought  forth  in  June. 

It  has  a  long,  swinging  gallop,  and  performs  prodigious  leaps,  some  of 
them  over  bushes  4  feet  high;  now  in  the  air,  its  feet  all  drawn  together  and 
downstretched;  now  on  the  ground,  which  it  touches  and  rebounds  from  with 
marvelous  elasticity.  It  will  course  thus  for  a  hundred  yards  or  so,  and  then  stop 
as  suddenly  as  it  started:  and,  sitting  erect,  its  long,  wide  open  ears,  vibrating  with 
excitement,  are  turned  in  every  direction  to  catch  the  sound  of  following  danger. 

Black-eared  Jack  Rabbit  or  Eastern  Jackass  Hare 
(Ltpua  melanotis  Mearns.) 

The  Black-eared  Jack  Rabbit  is  simply  the  eastern  form  of  the  Black- 
tailed  Rabbit  of  the  Great  Basin  region,  and  was  described  only  Biz 
years  ago.  in  L890,by  Dr.  E.  A.  Mearns,  from  a  market  specimen  sup. 
posed  to  have  been  killed  near  Independence  Cans.2  The  ditVerences 
between  it  and  the  common  Black-tailed  Jack  Babbit  are  only  apparent 
after  a  careful  comparison  of  a  series  of  specimens,  but  Lepus  melanotis 
is  described  as  having  a  richer  coloring  and  shorter  ears  than  Its  West- 


Am.  Nat..  I.  Dec.,  ist')7.  J.]..  532-533. 

•Bull.  Am.  Mns.  Nat.  Hist..  X.  Y.,  II,  Feb.,  1890,  pp.  297-300.    The  average  measure- 
ments of  two  specimens  from  Independence,  including  th«'  type, are:  Total  length, 
23±  inehes  (590mm);  tail,  3  inches  (77"""):  ear.  5i  inches  (142n,«).     The  ear  a\, 
nearly  30mm  shorter  than  in    /..  tiXHMUi, 


22  JACK    RABBITS    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 

era  representative.  Whether  it  should  be  recognized  as  a  full  species 
or  merely  a  subspecies  need  not  be  considered  here;  but  it  may  be 
explained  that  under  this  name  are  included  all  the  black-tailed  jack 
rabbits  occurring  east  of  the  Kocky  Mountains  and  from  central  Texas 
north  ward  to  Nebraska. 

Tins  hare  is  found  on  the  Great  Plains  from  eastern  Kansas  to  the 
Rocky  Mountains  and  western  Texas,  where  its  range  probably  merges 
into  that  of  Lepus  texianus.  In  some  parts  of  Kansas  and  in  south- 
eastern Colorado  it  is  very  abundant  and  is  killed  in  large  numbers. 
When  full  grown  it  weighs  about  C  pounds  and  is  the  black-tailed  rab- 
bit most  commonly  seen  in  the  markets  of  Eastern  cities. 

Its  habits  are  similar  to  those  of  other  jack  rabbits.  According  to 
Mr.  H.  P.  Attwater  it  is  sometimes  captured  when  young  and  kept  alive, 
but  is.always  wild  and  very  pugnacious.  It  is  much  used  in  coursing, 
and  is  considered  one  of  the  best  rabbits  for  this  sport.  An  interest- 
ing experiment  on  its  speed  was  made  on  the  plains  of  eastern  Colorado 
near  Burlington,  about  160  miles  east  of  Denver.1  Several  hares  were 
turned  loose  after  having  a  drop  or  two  of  anise-seed  oil  rubbed  on  their 
feet,  and  as  soon  as  they  were  out  of  sight  a  pack  of  five  hounds  was 
started  in  pursuit.  The  first  and  second  hares  were  run  down  in 
about  twenty  minutes,  but  the  hounds  required  nearly  two  hours  to 
overhaul  the  third,  'an  old  black  tail.'  The  writer  adds  that  these 
rabbits  run  in  circles  as  a  rule.  They  make  a  spurt  for  the  first  two 
miles,  but  then  begin  to  weaken,  and  if  the  scent  is  not  lost  they  are 
certain  to  be  overtaken  by  the  hounds  at  last. 

Allen's  Jack  Rabbit. 

(Lepus  alleni  Meams.) 

Allen's  Jack  Babbit  is  the  largest  and  finest  of  the  hares  of  the  South- 
west. Even  at  a  distance  it  may  be  readily  distinguished  by  its  gray 
sides  and  the  white  on  the  hind  part  of  the  body.  Its  length  is  about 
25J  inches  (643m,n);  tail,  2f  inches  (*69mm)j  while  the  ears  measure 
about  7f  inches  (195mm).2  The  color  above  is  yellowish  brown  mixed 
with  black,  but  this  area  is  restricted  by  the  gray  of  the  sides,  and  in 
autumn  (November)  specimens  is  a  beautiful  dark  steel  gray.  This 
species  was  also  described  by  Dr.  E.  A.  Mearns,  in  18903  from  a  speci- 
men collected  May  8, 1885,  at  Rillito  Station,  on  the  line  of  the  Southern 
Pacific  Railroad  near  Tucson,  Ariz. 

Allen's  Hare  is  found  in  the  deserts  of  southern  Arizona  and  Sonora, 
in  the  region  extending  from  Phoenix  southeastward  to  the  Santa Cat- 
alina  and  Santa  Rita  mountains,  and  thence  south- into  Mexico  almost 
as  far  as  Guaymas.    It  has  been  collected  in  Sonora  at  Oputo,  on  the 

1  Am.  Field.  XL  1 1..  Inly  21, 1894,  p.  53. 

-  Average  of  three  specimens,  including  the  type,  collected  by  Dr.  Mearns. 

3  Bull.  Am.  Mus.  Nat.  Hist.,  II,  Feb.  1890,  294-297,  300. 


allen's  jack  rabbit.  23 

upper  Yaqui  River,  at  Magdalena,  Ilermosillo,  and  Ortiz,  and  probably 
ranges  over  the  greater  part  of  the  State.  Little  is  known  as  to  the 
western  limits  of  its  range,  or  tlie  injury  which  it  may  do  to  crops  when 
the  country  becomes  more  thickly  settled.  Concerning  its  habits  Mi. 
W.  W.  Price  says: 

"This  splendid  hare  is  abundant  about  Tucson  and  in  lower  portions 
of  the  desert  belt.  It  is  found  both  on  the  gravelly  hills  bordering  the 
Rillito  at  Fort  Lowell,  and  on  the  immense  mesquite  and  La/rrea  plains 
of  Tucson.  It  is  somewhat  shy,  and  hard  to  secure,  except  with  a  rifle. 
One  rarely  comes  upon  it  suddenly .  1  have  never  seen  it  start  up  with 
the  quick,  rapid  flight  of  L.  texianus.  It  has  a  slow,  apparently  awk- 
ward gait,  but  its  leaps  are  long,  and  it  gets  over  the  ground  with 
surprising  rapidity.  In  color  and  habits  it  is  so  very  different  from  any 
other  American  hare,  the  wonder  is  that  it  should  have  so  long  remained 
undesenbed."  l 


»  Bull.  Am.  Mus.  Nat.  Hist.,  VII,  1895,  pp.  201-202. 


CHAPTER  II. 
ABUNDANCE   AND   RAPIDITY   OF   INCREASE. 

It  is  well  known  that  jack  rabbits  are  very  prolific,  and  reference 
has  already  been  made  to  the  great  numbers  found  together  in  some 
parts  of  California,  Idaho,  Nevada,  and  South  Dakota.  Similar 
instances  might  be  mentioned  for  southeastern  Colorado  and  central 
Utah.  But  the  best  illustrations  of  extraordinary  abundance  in  lim- 
ited areas  can  perhaps  be  found  in  California.  In  Modoc  County,  in 
the  northern  part  of  the  State,  nearly  25,000  jack  rabbits  were  said 
to  have  been  killed  in  three  months  on  a  tract  of  land  only  6  by  8 
miles  in  extent;  this  was  during  the  period  when  the  bounty  law  was 
in  force.  A  still  more  remarkable  case  has  been  recorded  in  the  San 
Joaquin  Valley.  Some  of  the  early  drives  near  Bakersfield  took  place 
on  a  ranch  less  than  1  square  mile  in  extent.  In  the  first  drive,  on  the 
afternoon  of  January  2,  1888,  1,126  rabbits  were  killed;  as  soon  as  the 
animals  were  dispatched,  the  same  field  was  passed  over  again  and  796 
more  killed.  A  week  later,  on  January  10,  there  were  two  drives  on  the 
same  ground,  the  first  resulting  in  the  destruction  of  2,000  rabbits,  the 
second  in  more  than  3,000;  in  the  latter  an  adjoining  field  was  also 
driven  over.  It  was  estimated  that  altogether  about  8,000  rabbits 
were  killed  on  this  ranch  in  nine  days.  The  'Kern  County  Echo'  of 
March  (8  ?),  1888,  stated  that  a  total  of  about  10,000  rabbits  had  been 
killed  in  the  drives  about  Bakersfield  from  January  1,  1888,  up  to  that 
date,  and  referred  to  an  estimate  that  two- thirds  of  the  rabbits  killed 
in  the  drives  were  females  and  the  average  number  of  young  of  each  of 
these  was  3  J.  On  this  basis  it  was  computed  that  had  these  40,000  rab- 
bits lived  two  months  they  would  have  increased  to  135,000.  When 
it  is  considered  how  much  injury  a  single  rabbit  can  do,  the  damage 
which  such  an  army  of  rabbits  is  capable  of  iuflictiug  would  hardly  be 
less  than  that  caused  by  a  grasshopper  plague. 

Surprise  is  sometimes  expressed  that  jack  rabbits  are  not  entirely 
exterminated  in  regions  where  they  have  been  mercilessly  slaughtered 
for  veins,  and  it  might  be  supposed  that  animals  which  live  on  the 
open  plains  without  even  the  protection  afforded  by  burrows  or  holes 
of  any  kind,  could  easily  be  kept  within  bounds,  though  they  have 
comparatively  few  natural  enemies.  But  experience  has  shown  that 
this  is  no  easy  mailer.  Ada  County,  Idaho,  which  has  been  systemat- 
ically killing  off  the  jacks  for  fifteen  years  under  the  bouuty  system, 
received  more  scalps  and  expended  more  money  for  this  purpose  during 

1895  than  in  any  year  since  the  bounty  law  first  went  into  effect  in  1878. 
24 


BREEDING    HABITS.  25 

Id  view  of  these  facts  it  may  be  worth  while,  before  considering  the 
subject  of  depredations  or  the  methods  used  in  extermination,  to  dwell 
somewhat  on  the  way  in  which  these  rabbits  contrive  to  bold  their  own 
under  apparently  great  disadvantages  and  when  exposed  to  attacks  of 
every  kind.  Naturally  their  breeding  habits  and  the  rate  at  which  the 
animals  increase  should  be  considered  in  this  connection. 

BREEDING    HABITS. 

The  breeding  habits  of  the  Old  World  hare  and  rabbit  are  well 
known  and  have  been  determined  repeatedly  by  observations  on  ani- 
mals kept  in  confinement,  so  that  the  period  of  gestation,  the  number 
of  young  in  a  litter,  the  number  of  litters  born  in  a  year,  and  the  age 
at  which  each  species  begins  to  breed  are  known  with  considerable 
accuracy.  According  to  Sir  Richard  Owen,  the  period  of  gestation  in 
the  Old  World  hare  {Lepus  timidus)  and  the  rabbit  {Lepus  cuniculus) 
varies  from  thirty  to  thirty-one  days,  and  it  is  probably  much  the  same 
in  the  case  of  our  native  species.  The  common  European  rabbit  breeds 
from  four  to  eight  times  a  year  and  the  number  of  young  varies  from 
3  to  8  in  each  litter;  it  begins  to  breed  when  only  o"  months  old  and 
attains  an  age  of  7  or  8  years. l 

The  breeding  habits  of  the  various  jack  rabbits  are  so  much  alike 
that  the  account  of  those  of  any  one  species  will  serve  as  an  illustration 
of  the  others.  The  following  description  is  taken  from  Dr.  Coiies'  paper 
on  the  Prairie  Hare  in  Montana,  to  which  reference  has  already  been 
made: 

In  the  regions  where  I  have  studied  this  hare,  the  female  brings  forth  in  June  and 
early  July — oftener  the  latter — and  apparently  only  one  litter  is  produced  each 
s<;i-(»ii.  The  number  of  young  is  5  or  6,  as  a  rule.  The  form  is  simply  constructed, 
without  burrowing,  in  the  grass  beneath  some  low,  thick  bush  or  tuft  of  weeds. 
The  young  are  said  to  suckle  and  follow  the  mother  for  a  month  or  more.  They  are 
agile  little  creatures,  even  when  only  a  week  or  two  old,  and  it  is  only  when  \< tv 
young  that  they  can  be  caught  by  hand.  In  traveling  along  the  Milk  River  ('where 
the  species  was  abundant),  early  in  July,  1  had  several  little  ones  brought  to  me,  and 
Borne  I  kept  tor  a  time  in  a  box.     *     *  Though  only  5  or  6  inches  long,  they  had 

all  the  motions  and  attitudes  characteristic  of  the  parents,  and  made  shift  to  run 
about  quite  cleverl}*.  They  could  not  eat,  but  some  of  them  could  be  coaxed  to  lick 
a  little  milk.     (Bull.  Essex  Inst.,  VII,  1875,  p.  81.) 

Much  still  remains  to  be  learned  in  regard  to  the  number  of  young 
per  annum,  the  exact  time  when  they  are  born  and  particularly  the  Dum- 
ber of  litters  per  year.  The  interest  in  this  subject  is  not  restricted  to 
the  naturalist,  for  it  is  a  matter  of  practical  importance  to  the  orchardist 
or  the  farmer  to  know  when  his  efforts  at  extermination  will  be  most 
effective. 

Number  of  young  in  a  litter, — Compared  with  the  domesticated  rabbit 
the  jack  rabbit  does  not  increase  very  rapidly.  Writers,  however, 
differ  widely  concerning  the  number  of  young  and  the  frequency  with 
which  the  different  species  breed.     Most  of  the  statements  seem  to  be 


1  Flower  <&   Lydekker,  Mammals  Living  and  Extinct.  1891,  p.  194. 


26 


JACK    RABBITS    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES,  i 


largely  matters  of  opinion.  Mr.  H.  P.  Attwater  states  that  the  jack 
rabbit  od  the  southeastern  coast  of  Texas  is  supposed  to  have  only  one 
young  at  a  birth.  Dr.  J.  H.  Clark,  surgeon  of  tlie  Mexican  Boundary 
Survey,  notes  thai  the  species  found  along  the  Mexican  border  brings 
forth  l)n t  2  or  3  young  at  a  time,  and  these  usually  late  in  the  summer. 
The  writer,  in  the  'Kern  County  Echo,'  referred  to  above,  says:  "If 
these  rabbits  breed  every  six  weeks,  as  is  asserted  by  many,  or  at  the 
outside,  three  times  a  year,  *  *  *  every  farmer  in  this  end  of  the 
valley  without  a  rabbit-tight  fence  will  be  compelled  to  surrender  his 
ranch  to  the  pests." 

As  very  little  positive  data  seems  to  have  been  given  by  most 
observers,  recourse  was  had  to  the  specimens  in  the  collections  of  Br. 
C.  Hart  Merriam,  the  United  States  Department  of  Agriculture,  and 
the  American  Museum  of  Natural  History,1  to  supplement  the  few 
published  notes.  Altogether  about  50  specimens  were  available  for 
this  purpose,  consisting  first  of  15  adult  females  with  young,  which  had 
been  examined  in  the  field  and  a  note  made  of  the  number  of  embryos 
which  each  contained.  These  furnish  the  most  accurate  data  possible 
concerning  the  uumber  of  young.  The  other  specimens,  36  in  number, 
comprise  rabbits  less  than  half  grown,  and  in  some  cases  only  a  few 
days  old,  which  may  be  utilized  to  show  roughly  the  dates  of  birth. 
The  data  thus  collected  are  shown  in  the  following  tables : 

Table  shoiviny  number  of  Jack  Babbits  in  a  Utter  (based  on  dissection  of  females  with 

young). 


Species. 

Num- 
ber of 
em- 
bryos. 

Date. 

Locality. 

Lepus  californicus 

Lepus  campettris 

Do 

4 
4 
4 
1 
1 
6 
6 
4 
4 
3 
2 
6 
3 
3 
2 

Mar.  19, 1894 
May    5,1890 
May  30,  1894 

Jolon,  Cal. 

Bridger  Pass,  Wyoming. 

Forks  of  Chevenne.  South  Dakota. 

Lepus  melanotis  (?)*... 

Lepus  texianus 

Do 

Dec.  28, 1894     San  Antonio,  Tex. 
Jan.  24, 1891    Death  Valley,  Cal. 
Mar.  25,  1891            Do. 

Do 

Apr.  16,  1891  j  Panamint  Mountains,  Cal. 

TA  ay    1, 1891    Salt  Wells  Valley,  Cal. 

May   8, 1893    Raymond,  Cal. 

May    9, 1893  j          Do. 

May  25, 1892    Fort  Huachuca,  Ariz. 

June  ? Fort  Whipple,  Ariz.  (Coues). 

July   9, 1890    Blackfoot,  Idaho. 

July  31, 1891    25  miles  west  of  Benton,  Cal. 

Do 

Do(?) 

I)o(0 

Do 

Do 

Do 

Do 

Do 

Sept.  5, 1889     San  Francisco  Mountain.  Arizona. 

*  Specimen  in  American  Museum  of  Natural  History,  New  York. 

The  number  of  young  as  shown  by  these  15  specimens  varies  from  1 
to  6 — never  morej  in  fact  it  is  probable  that  6  is  rather  exceptional, 
although  found  in  three  of  the  cases  mentioned  above.  The  average 
obtained  from  the  table  is  between  3  and  4  (3.5),  but  this  result  is  prob- 
ably not  accurate.    It  will  be  noticed  that  all  the  cases  of  3  young  or 


'Through  the  kindness  of  Dr.  J.  A.  Allen,  curator  of  mammals  in  the  American 
Museum  of  Natural  History,  New  York,  1  have  had  an  opportunity  of  examining  the 
jack  rabbits  in  that  collection. 


TIME    OF    BIRTH.  27 

less  are  in  the  desert  region  of  the  Great  Basin  or  Arizona,  or  else 
represent  second  or  third  litters.  Dr.  K.  A.  .M  earns,  United  States 
Army,  who  has  examined  many  specimens  in  Arizona,  states  that  it  is 
very  common  to  find  only  1  young  and  that  2  is  the  usual  Dumber 
in  that  region.  Farther  north,  however,  both  in  the  case  of  the  Prairie 
Hare  and  the  California  Jack,  1  is  probably  not  too  high  an  average 
for  the  first  litter,  but  it  is  doubtless  true  that  later  in  the  season  the 
litters  are  smaller. 

Time  of  birth. — The  evidence  at  hand  not  only  fails  to  substantiate 
the  view  that  jack  rabbits  breed  every  six  weeks  in  the  year,  but  I  here  is 
every  reason  to  believe  that  each  species  has  a  regular  breeding  season 
and  a  definite  period  of  rest.  Certainly  no  data  have  been  found  which 
show  that  the  young  are  born  in  the  United  States  in  October,  Novem- 
ber, or  I  )ecember.  It  is  almost  impossible  to  determine  the  exact  dates 
of  birth  unless  the  animals  are  kept  in  captivity,  but  the  time  can  be 
estimated  approximately.  As  already  stated,  the  period  of  gestation 
is  about  thirty  days,  so  that  the  specimens  mentioned  in  the  last  table 
can  be  utilized  for  this  purpose  by  adding  thirty  days  to  the  dates 
given  and  the  results  will  be  within  a  month,  and  probably  within  two 
or  three  weeks  of  the  true  time.  Furthermore,  it  maybe  assumed  that 
jack  rabbits  attain  their  full  size  (but  not  weight)  in  about  two  months, 
and  the  size  of  the  adults  and  of  the  young  at  birth  being  known,  the 
measurements  of  a  young  animal  may  be  taken  as  a  rough  index  of 
its  age.  The  following  table  is  based  on  an  examination  of  36  young 
rabbits  selected  for  this  purpose.  Xo  specimens  were  included  which 
seemed  to  be  much  more  than  half  grown,  and  nearly  all  those  given 
may  be  assumed  to  be  less  than  thirty  days  old  and  hence  the  date  of 
birth  less  than  a  month  earlier  in  each  case. 

The  collection  contains  several  specimens  which  illustrate  the  size 
ami  condition  of  the  young  at  birth.  Perhaps  the  most  interesting  are 
4  foetal  Prairie  Hares  collected  at  Bridger  Pass,  Wyoming,  May  5, 
1890,  evidently  but  a  day  or  two  before  birth.  The  average  measure- 
ments of  these  specimens  are:  Total  length,  149mm;  hind  foot,  30""". 
The  animals  are  entirely  covered  with  hair  and  the  eyes  are  open.  In 
one,  at  least,  the  front  teeth  (incisors)  are  cut,  and  nearly  all  the  molars 
in  the  upper  jaw  are  just  breaking  through  the  gums.  The  specimens 
having  been  preserved  in  alcohol  for  four  years  are  somewhat  shrunken 
and  the  total  length  is  probably  about  25"""  too  short.  A  specimen  of 
the  Black-tailed  Rabbit  (Lepus  texianus)  from  Pananiint  Valley,  Cali- 
fornia, collected  January  10, 1891 — evidently  only  a  few  days  old — meas- 
ures only  L92mm  in  length,  and  hind  foot  47mm.  Another  of  about  the 
same  age  from  Santa  Rosalia,  Chihuahua,  taken  September  21,  L893, 
measures  185U,1U,  hind  foot,  43mm.  Thus,  the  young  at  birth  average  a 
little  less  than  200"""  in  length;  the  hind  foot  about  40  or  4.V'"».  The 
dates  of  birth  can  be  approximated  from  the  following  table  with  suf« 
ficient  accuracy  for    present   purposes   by  comparing   the   difference 


28 


JACK    RABBITS    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


between  these  measurements  and  those  of  any  particular  specimen 
with  the  difference  obtained  by  subtracting  the  measurements  of  the 
young  from  those  of  the  adult  of  that  species. 

List  of  young  Jack  Babbits,  showing  time  of  birth. 


Sp  >cles. 


I.ijm.s  n Ue ni 

Lepus  calif  amicus. 

Do 

Do 

Do 

Do 

Lepus  campestris  .. 

Do 

Do     

Do* 

Do* 

Lepus  melaiiotist . 

Do* 

Dot 

Dot 

Do 

Do 

Do 

Dot 

Dot • 

Dot 

Lepus  texianus 

Do 

Do 

Do 

Do 

Do 

Do 

Do 

Do 

Do 

Do 

Lepus  sp  (?) , 

Dot 

Do 

Do 


Date. 


June  12,1892 

Mar.  18, 1892 
Mar.  23, 1894 
Apr.  15, 1894 
Apr.  18,1894 
May  1,1894 
May  23,  1894 
May  24, 1894 
May  28, 1888 

do 

Sept.  10, 1887 

Mar.    4, 

Mar.    9, 1891 

Apr.  12, 

July    6, 

Apr.  26, 1894 
July  31),  1892 
Sept.    3,  1890 

Sept.  17, 

Sept.  17, 

Oct.    11, 

Jan.  10,1891 
Mar.  27, 1891 
Apr.  10,1891 
Apr.  27, 1892 
May  9, 1891 
May  18, 1889 
May  22, 1889 
June  11, 1891 
July  17, 1894 
July  26, 1890 
Sept.  21, 1893 
Jan.  23,1892 
Sept.  30,  l»a3 
Aug.  14, 1892 
do 


Locality. 


Total   Hind 
length,    loot. 


Riliito  Creek,  Arizona 

San  Fernando,  Cal 

Jackson,  Cal 

Oakdale,  Cal 

Chinese  Camp,  Cal 

Priest  Valley,  Cal 

Newcastle,  \Vyo 

do 

Fort  Pierre,  S.  Dak 

...do 

Fort  Bui'ord,  N.  Dak 

San  Antonio,  Tex 

Onaga,  Kans 

San  Antonio,  Tex 

....do 

Vernon,  Tex 

Cairo,  Kans 

Onaga,  Kans 

San  Antonio,  Tex 

do 

do 

Panarnint  Valley,  Cal 

Grapevine  Mountains,  Nev 

Furnace  Creek,  Cal 

Fort  Huachuca,  Ariz 

Beaverdam,  Ariz 

Phoenix,  Ariz 

Carson,  N  ev 

Lone  Pine,  Cal 

South  Fork,  Pitt  River,  (  al 

Arco,  Idaho 

Santa  Rosalia,  Chihuahua. 

Matagorda,  Tex 

Rockport,  Tex 

San  Luis  Potosi,  Mexico  . . 
do 


Mm. 
455 

375 
405 
390 
420 
410 
344 
350 
460 
445 
265 


206 
405 


192 
379 
200 
380 
300 
410 

"295 
281 
240 
185 
260 

'l95 


Mm. 
110 

105 

104 

87 

108 

ue 

95 
99 

105 
103 


Remarks. 


Adult:     Length     643"™; 
hind  foot,  138. 


;  Adult:    Length    592mm; 
hind  foot,  136. 


Adult::    Length  598mmj 
[     bind  foot,  150mm. 


|  One-third  grown  (?). 


73 


46 

109 


47 

98 

51 

100 

88 

102 

109 

84 

77 

65 

43 

80 

""48" 
48 


Adult:    Length     590mmj 
}    hind  foot,  130. 


Unborn  (?). 

Do. 
Few  days  old. 


Adult:     Length    647mm; 
hind  foot.  145. 


One-third  grown  (?). 


*  In  Merriam  collection.  tin  American  Museum  of  Natural  History,  New  York. 

|  Average  of  6  specimens  from  Wyoming. 

It  would  have  been  desirable  to  have  a  much  larger  number  of  speci- 
mens, but  the  localities  and  seasons  are  well  distributed  and  com- 
pensate in  a  measure  for  the  small  series.  The  earliest  date  of  birth 
indicated  in  these  tables  is  about  the  beginning  of  January  in  the  case 
of  three  specimens — one  taken  in  Panarnint  Valley,  in  the  desert  region 
of  southern  California,  the  others  in  southern  Texas,  at  San  Antonio 
and  Matagorda.  The  latest  dates  (September),  are  represented  by  speci- 
mens from  San  Francisco  Mountain,  Ariz.;  Santa  Rosalia,  Chihuahua, 
and  Rockport  and  San  Antonio,  Tex.  Between  these  extremes  every 
month  is  represented,  but  most  of  the  young  seem  to  be  born  in  April, 
May,  and  June.  Specimens  born  after  the  1st  of  July  are  from  the 
northern  part  of  the  Plains,  from  the  Great  Basin,  from  southern  Texas, 
from  elevated  regions,  or  from  the  table-land  of  Mexico.  There  is  a 
noticeable  absence  of  data  from  the  low  deserts  of  southern  Arizona 
and  southern  California,  apparently  indicating  at  least  a  partial  period 
Of  rest  during  the  hot,  dry  summer.     The  tables  also  fail  to  show  that 


BREEDING    SEASON.  29 

any  jack  rabbits  are  born  before  the  1st  of  February  in  California  west 
of  the  Sierra,  or  before  the  1st  of  April  north  of  Kansas  and  central 
Nevada.  The  length  of  the  breeding  season  in  southern  regions  indi- 
cates that  several  litters  are  born  each  year,  but  in  the  northern  United 
States  the  number  is  probably  not  more  than  two,  or  at  the  most,  three. 

The  practical  bearing  of  these  generalizations  is  obvious.  Drives  or 
hunts  organized  for  the  extermination  of  rabbits  should  take  place 
before  the  beginning  of  the  breeding  season,  if  they  are  to  accomplish 
the  desired  end.  Just  after  the  young  are  born  the  rabbit  population 
in  a  given  place  may  be  two  or  three  times  what  it  was  six  weeks  pre- 
vious, and  the  killing  of  1,000  rabbits  then  would  be  only  one  half  or 
one  third  as  effective  as  the  destruction  of  an  equal  number  earlier  in 
the  season,  when  all  the  animals  were  adults.  Drives  in  southern  Cal- 
ifornia should  therefore  be  made  in  December,  January,  February,  or 
early  in  March — the  earlier  the  better,  if  the  weather  .is  favorable; 
later  in  the  season  more  rabbits  may  be  killed  at  one  time,  but  a  cer- 
tain proportion  will  be  young.  In  Colorado  and  Utah,  hunts  made 
before  the  1st  of  February  will  accomplish  much  more  than  those  in 
April,  while  in  Idaho  they  may  be  postponed  somewhat  later. 

Similarly,  when  killed  for  game,  the  rabbits  from  southern  California 
or  Arizona  are  not  likely  to  be  in  the  best  condition  after  the  1st  of 
February  or  March,  while  those  from  the  northern  Plains  may  be 
shipped  up  to  the  1st  of  April.  On  the  other  hand,  the  young  will 
hardly  be  in  condition  for  market  before  October  except  in  southern 
regions,  and  there  the  hot  weather  is  likely  to  interfere  with  their  ship- 
ment. 


CHAPTER  III. 

INJURY  TO  CROPS  AND  MEANS  OF  PROTECTION. 
INJURY    TO    GRAIN,  ORCHARDS,  ETC. 

With  the  settlement  of  the  West  the  jack  rabbit  has  found  that 
several  cultivated  crops  furnish  food  which  is  better  and  more  easily 
obtained  than  the  wild  plants  on  which  it  formerly  fed,  a  fact  that  is 
too  often  .demonstrated  by  the  ravages  committed  in  orchards  and 
vineyards.  Like  the  cottontail,  it  seldom  ignores  a  neighboring  alfalfa 
held  or  vegetable  garden,  and  if  unmolested  can  do  a  surprising 
amount  of  damage.  Melons,  cabbage,  carrots,  alfalfa,  cotton,  sweet- 
potato  vines,  young  grain,  grapevines,  and  trees  suffer  most  frequently 
from  its  visits.  The  damage  is  most  severe,  however,  in  the  young 
orchard  set  in  newly  broken  ground,  for  here,  deprived  of  its  ordinary 
food  by  the  cultivation  of  the  land,  the  rabbit  is  forced  to  seek  a  new 
supply,  and  finds  it  in  the  tender  bark  of  the  young  trees.  A  single 
animal  can  girdle  a  large  number  of  trees  in  a  short  time,  and  will  often 
injure  them  so  seriously  that  part  of  the  orchard  has  to  be  replanted. 
It  destroys  both  the  foliage  and  bark  of  young  vines,  but  is  especially 
partial  to  alfalfa  and  to  cabbages.  Fortunately,  it  does  not  burrow  to 
any  great  extent,  and  therefore  does  not  injure  the  roots  of  trees  or 
plants,  like  the  pocket  gopher. 

It  has  been  estimated  that  five  jack  rabbits  consume  as  much  food 
as  one  sheep ;  thus  some  idea  can  be  formed  of  the  damage  which  a 
few  rabbits  may  do  in  the  course  of  a  single  night.  Gomplaints  of  their 
ravages  have  been  received  from  numerous  correspondents  from  Texas 
to  Washington,  and  from  Kansas  to  California.  Probably  all  the  spe- 
cies are  injurious,  although  no  positive  evidence  against  Allen's  Kabbit 
is  now  at  hand,  simply  because  so  little  land  in  the  area  which  it 
inhabits  happens  to  be  under  cultivation.  Most  of  the  injury  is  done 
by  the  California  Jack  Rabbit  and  the  wide-ranging  Texan  Hare  (Lepas 
texianus). 

Mr.  II.  P.  Attwater  states  that  jack  rabbits  are  common  in  Aransas 
County,  Tex.,  along  the  Gulf  coast,  and  do  so  much  damage  that  many 
of  t  lie  smaller  truck  farms  are  protected  by  rabbit-proof  fences.  In  the 
northern  part  of  the  same  State  Mr.  W.  J.  Crowley,  of  Grapevine,  Tar- 
rant County,  reports  that  they  cause  considerable  injury  to  grain,  and 
in  fields  of  wheat,  oats,  and  cotton  often  cut  paths  12  inches  wide  and 
300  or  loo  yards  in  length,  and  destroy  patches  as  large  as  an  ordinary 
sized  room.  Mr.  A.  Yogt  wrote  from  Willow  Point,  in  the  neighboring 
comity  of  Wise,  under  date  of  December  6,  1889:  "The  damage  done 

30 


INJURY   TO    CROPS.  31 

to  my  old  orchard  of  a  thousand  peach  trees  by  rabbits  [Lepus  gylvati- 
tm  and  L.  melanotis]  is  50  per  cent.    Three  hundred  trees  are  barked 

all  around  and  below  the  bud,  so  that  if  they  come  out  again  they  will 
be  seedlings.    Whitewashing  the  trunks  does  no  good,  as  the  rabbits 

take  the  whitewash  and  bark  together." 
When  irrigation  was  first  begun  near  Lamar,  in  southeastern  ( 'olorado, 

the  rabbits  were  attracted  from  the  surrounding  country,  and  caused 
much  damage  in  the  alfalfa  and  young  orchards.  I  hints  were  arranged 
on  a  large  scale  to  kill  off  the  pests,  and  proved  so  successful  that 
regular  'rabbit  days'  have  been  celebrated  for  the  last  two  or  three 
years  at  Las  Animas  and  at  Lamar. 

In  Idaho  much  difficulty  has  been  experienced  with  jack  rabbits  at 
the  experiment  station  at  Nampa,  Canyon  County.  They  are  partic- 
ularly destructive  to  oats,  wheat,  barley,  clover,  vegetables,  and  fruit 
trees.  Mr.  T.  T.  Butledge,  assistant  director,  states  that  entire  crops 
of  grain  and  alfalfa  are  sometimes  destroyed  if  small  in  acreage  and 
unprotected. 

Mr.  J.  B.  Cure,  of  Rudy,  Fremont  County,  writes  under  date  of  Sep- 
tember 10,  1895:  --Jack  rabbits  have  done  a  great  deal  of  damage  in 
this  part  of  the  country  to  grain  and  lucern,  and  are  increasing  very 
fast.  *  *  *  Some  of  the  farmers  have  lost  from  8  to  10  acres  of 
grain  by  rabbits  this  season." 

Complaints  have  also  been  received  from  the  State  of  Washington 
from  Sunnyside,  Yakima  County;  from  Davenport,  Lincoln  County,  and 
from  Prescott,  Wallawalla  County.  Mr.  Conrod,  of  Davenport,  wrote 
on  December  19, 1887,  that  the  jack  rabbits  were  causing  serious  injury 
to  grain,  apple  and  plum  trees,  raspberry  vines,  carrots,  and  cabbage. 

Mr.  Oscar  X.  Wheeler,  of  Prescott,  writing  under  date  of  August  12, 
189o,  says:  i;Jack  rabbits  (white  tailed)  have  done  a  vast  amount  of 
damage  to  orchards,  vineyards,  and  grain  fields,  but  are  not  nearly  so 
numerous  now  as  they  were  three  or  four  years  ago.  when  they  destroyed 
bearing  orchards.  Timber  claims,  planted  in  black  locust  that  were 
large  and  old  enough  to  'prove  up'  on.  were  destroyed  by  them.  Ten 
pie  who  had  hay  stacked  had  to  fence  it  to  keep  them  off.  I  have 
known  large  stacks  of  hay  destroyed  by  them.*' 

In  Utah,  Mr.  W.  (i.  Nowers  wrote  in  February,  1887.  concerning  the 
Black-tailed  Jack  Babbit  {Lepus  texiawus)  in  Beaver  County:  k-At 
times  its  ravages  are  enormous;  sweeping  down  from  the  bench  lands 
and  sage  plains  in  myriads,  it  devours  entire  fields  of  cereals.  Lasl 
year  in  this  and  adjoining  counties  on  either  side  its  depredations 
amounted  to  several  thousand  dollars.  Last  year  some  farmers  in  this 
county  lost  their  entire  crop  of  small  grain  from  this  source  alone.  At 
Minersville  not  more  than  one-third  of  the  crop  was  harvested;  at 
Adamsville  nearly  the  total  crop  was  taken:  at  Greenville  one-half  of 
the  crop  was  destroyed:  and  here  (Beaver)  about  the  same.  This  i< 
also  a  fair  representation  of  the  ravages  in  Iron  County  south  of  U8." 


32  JACK    RABBITS    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 

In  California  jack  rabbits  are  most  abundant  on  some  of  the  richest 
lands  in  the  State,  and  they  have  been  particularly  injurious  to  the 
vineyards  and  crops  in  the  southern  coast  counties  and  in  the  San 
Joaquin  Valley.  The  following  account  of  their  ravages  in  west- 
ern Fresno  County,  by  Mr.  Alvah  A.  Eaton,  gives  some  idea  of  the 
extraordinary  numbers  in  the  central  part  of  the  San  Joaquin  Valley, 
and  shows  how  a  scanty  food  supply  drives  the  rabbits  to  the  culti- 
vated fields.    Mr.  Eaton  says: 

I  arrived  in  Fresno,  Cal..  April  1,  1890,  after  what  was  known  as  a  wet  year, 
i.e..  rain  enough  had  fallen  to  sprout  wheat  and  raise  a  fair  crop  without  irrigation. 
These  conditions  were  favorable  for  various  'tar'  and  'alkali'  weeds  (species  of 
Madia)  which  grew  so  luxuriantly  that  year  that  they  prevented  the  heading 
of  wheat  in  several  sections  of  the  Riverdale  country.  The  next  year  was  dry,  and 
fchere  was  no  wild  feed  that  the  rabbits  could  get,  so  they  flocked  to  the  wheat 
fields,  feeding  on  the  wheat  and  hiding  and  breeding  in  the  weeds.  Many  were 
destroyed  by  burning  the  weeds,  and  by  gunners,  but  it  did  not  seem  to  make  much 
difference.  To  make  matters  worse,  there  had  been  a  bounty  of  $5  a  scalp  placed  on 
coyotes,  and  these  were  mercilessly  hunted,  and  the  rabbits  and  squirrels  throve  in 
consequence. 

During  the  summer  of  1891  it  was  no  uncommon  thing  to  start  1,000  rabbits  out  of 
a  patch  of  weeds,  and  in  one  patch  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  long  there  were  at 
least  5,000.  The  winter  of  1891-92  was  also  'dry/  no  feed  springing  up  till  late  in 
February.  The  rabbits  were  driven  by  hunger  to  the  alfalfa  fields.  They  gnawed 
the  tops  of  the  stools  to  the  roots,  and  even  dug  them  out  with  their  feet  and  ate 
them.  One  10-acre  field  of  my  brother's  was  more  thickly  covered  with  their  drop- 
pings than  I  ever  saw  a  pasture  covered  with  those  of  sheep. 

Such  was  the  state  of  affairs  in  the  spring  of  1892  just  previous  to 
the  four  great  Fresno  County  <  drives,'  which  occurred  in  February  and 
March,  resulting  in  the  destruction  of  more  than  43,000  rabbits. 

The  damage  which  jack  rabbits  have  done  has  been  eiiormous,  but  it 
is  very  difficult  to  obtain  reliable  statistics.  The  '  Visalia  Delta '  of 
February  16,  1888,  estimated  that  the  annual  loss  in  Tulare  County 
amounted  to  more  than  $600,000.  During  the  last  six  or  seven  years, 
however,  owing  to  the  increased  acreage  under  cultivation  and  the 
vigor  with  which  'drives'  have  been  conducted,  the  rabbits  have  been 
kept  pretty  well  in  check. 

The  loss  on  account  of  the  depredations  of  rabbits  in  Victoria, 
Australia,  for  the  ten  years,  1878-1888,  has  been  estimated  at  about 
$15,000,000  (£3,000,000).1 

PROTECTION  OF  ORCHARDS  AND  CROPS. 

The  cost  of  properly  protecting  trees  aud  vines  is  often  a  large  item 
in  the  expense  of  setting  a  new  orchard  or  vineyard.  Several  methods 
are  commonly  employed,  but  the  one  which  is  most  effective,  and  the 
only  one  which  can  be  used  for  crops  of  all  kinds,  is  the  rabbit  proof 
fence.  Babbits  which  succeed  in  getting  into  the  inclosure  maybe 
shot  or  poisoned. 

1  Journ.  Soc.  Arts,  London,  XXXVII,  No.  1879,  Nov.  23,  1888,  p.  22. 


PROTECTION    OF    CROPS.  33 


Tf  the  orchard  or  field  is  to  be  protected  as  a  whole,  it  should  be 
inclosed  by  a  low  fence  so  built  as  to  leave  no  holes  large  enough  to 
admit  a  rabbit.  While  the  animals  could  easily  leap  over  a  low  fence 
they  are  not  likely  to  under  ordinary  circumstances.1  In  southern 
California  experience  lias  shown  that  a  fence  about  2  feet  high  affords 
ample  protection  under  ordinary  circumstances,  and  many  vineyards 
and  orchards  are  surrounded  by  lath  fences  2  to  :U  feet  in  height.  In  the 
rabbit-infested  region  near  Bakersfield,  Gal.,  the  fences  are  built  some- 
what higher  than  usual — about  5  feet — and  are  made  of  laths  securely 
fastened  with  wire,  which  is  stretched  between  posts  set  15  or  20  feet 
apart  (see  corral  in  PL  III,  p.  47).  Several  kinds  are  in  use,  but  in  any 
case  the  fence  should  be  built  well  down  to  the  ground, and  may  be  still 
further  protected  by  running  a  barbed  wire  along  the  surface  of  the 
ground,  or  by  turning  a  furrow  against  the  bottom  to  prevent  the 
animals  from  crawling  under.  A  horizontal  board  fence  may  be  ren- 
dered rabbit  proof  by  nailing  slats  between  the  boards  or  by  placing 
the  lower  boards  closer  together.  Fencing  material  consisting  of  laths 
interwoven  with  wire  is  sold  in  large  rolls  and  can  be  had  in  some 
localities  ready  for  stringing  to  the  posts.  Woven  wire  fences  are  also 
made  especially  for  keeping  out  rabbits.  One  of  the  best  fences  is 
made  of  galvanized  wire  netting  with  1  J-inch  meshes  stretched  between 
posts  which  are  set  in  the  ground  at  convenient  distances.  The  netting 
should  be  fastened  with  staples  on  the  inside  of  the  posts,  and  two 
barbed  wires,  with  barbs  2J  inches  apart,  fastened  to  the  outside  of  the 
posts,  one  just  clearing  the  ground  and  the  other  an  inch  above  the  top 
of  the  netting.  The  barbed  wires  will  tear  any  rabbit  that  tries  to 
scratch  under  or  jump  over  the  fence.  If  desirable,  a  third  wire  may 
be  stretched  a  foot  or  two  above  the  top  of  the  netting,  which  will 
make  a  fence  high  enough  to  keep  out  cattle.2 

In  regions  having  a  heavy  snowfall  it  may  be  necessary  to  build  the 
fences  somewhat  higher,  as  the  rabbits,  taking  advantage  of  the  drifts, 
can  oftentimes  clear  a  low  fence.  This  difficulty  has  been  experienced 
in  Idaho,  and  some  orchardists  have  used  a  combination  fence  made  of 
paling  4  feet  high  protected  at  the  bottom  outside  by  a  strip  of  wire 
netting  2  feet  in  width.  Ordinary  fences  made  of  laths  or  paling  can 
not  be  relied  on  if  wide  spaces  are  left  between  the  slats,  as  the  rabbits 
can  then  gnaw  a  hole  large  enough  to  gain  entrance  to  the  inclosqre. 
Prof.  Charles  P.  Fox,  director  of  the  experiment  station  at  Moscow, 
Idaho,  suggests  that  such  fences  can  be  still  further  protected  by  dip- 
ping the  slats  in  a  warm  solution  of  silicate  of  soda  or  protecting  them 


'It  may  be  interesting  to  note  that  a  jack  rabbit  lias  been  seen  to  clear  a  7-foot 
fence  at  a  single  leap.  Mr.  Charles  Payne,  of  Wichita,  Kans..  had  several  annuals 
confined  in  an  inclosnre  of  this  height  and  actually  saw  one  or  more  escape  by 
jumping  over  the  fence.     (Am.  Field.  XLII.  Sept.  L>!>.  1894,  p.  295. ) 

-  Wickson,  California  Fruits.  1889,  p.  ">:'>:  2d  cd..  1891,  p.  577. 

8615— No.  8 3 


34  JACK    RABBITS    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 

with  sand  paint.  He  also  reports  that  a  substitute  for  fencing  is  now 
being  tried  at  the  substation  at  Xampa,  Idaho.  Eabbits  are  very  trou- 
blesome at  this  place,  and  in  past  years  have  destroyed  almost  the 
entire  crop  of  alfalfa.  Last  spring,  instead  of  building  an  expensive 
rabbit-proof  fence,  a  band  of  alfalfa  30  feet  in  width  was  sowed  around 
the  field,  which  was  inclosed  simply  with  three  strings  of  barbed  wire, 
the  idea  being  that  jack  rabbits,  which  usually  feed  around  the  edges 
of  the  field,  will  obtain  sufficient  food  from  the  outside  strip  and  not 
molest  that  within  the  fence.  He  says  "we  can  grow  rabbit  feed  in 
the  form  of  alfalfa  cheaper  than  anything  else." 

In  Australia  fences  have  proved  the  best  means  of  protection,  and 
many  miles  of  rabbit  fences  have  been  built  by  the  government.  One 
fence,  running  from  Narromine,  on  the  Macquarie  Eiver,  to  Bourke,  on 
the  Darling  River,  and  thence  to  Barringun,  is  291  miles  in  length  and 
cost  on  an  average  £82  per  mile.  It  has  recently  been  extended  to 
Corowa,  making  the  total  length  703  miles.  Another  fence  has  been 
built  from  the  Murray  Biver  northward  along  the  western  boundary 
of  New  South  Wales  for  a  distance  of  nearly  34G  miles,  at  an  average 
cost  of  a  little  over  £75  per  mile.  These  fences  were  built  of  17-gauge 
wire  netting  42  inches  in  width  and  having  1|  or  1J  inch  meshes.  The 
fences  are  looked  after  by  'boundary  riders,7  who  live  in  huts  about 
30  miles  apart.  Altogether  the  government  has  erected  1,049  miles  of 
fencing  in  New  South  Wales,  while  the  amount  built  by  individuals 
has  been  estimated  at  about  15,000  miles.1 

In  Queensland  about  675  miles  of  fences  have  been  built  by  the 
government2  and  in  New  Zealand  £12,530  have  been  expended  for  the 
South  Canterbury  fence. 

PROTECTION   OF   SINGLE   TREES. 

Where  the  expense  of  a  fence  is  too  great,  young  trees  may  be  pro- 
tected by  wrapping  the  stems  with  strips  of  burlap,  gunny  sacking,  or 
coarse  cloth  an  inch  or  two  wide.  These  strips  should  be  securely  tied 
at  the  top  and  bottom.  Small  cylinders  of  wire  netting,  heavy  paste- 
board, or  other  material  are  sometimes  used,  and  a  device  known  as 
the  'tule-tree  protector,'  made  of  the  dried  rushes  or  tules,  which  grow 
so  abundantly  in  the  San  Joaquin  River  swamps  in  California,  has  been 
patented  for  this  express  purpose.  Recently  cylinders  made  of  thin 
strips  of  yucca  wood  (Yucca  arborcscens),  with  the  edges  fastened 
together  by  wire,  have  been  placed  on  the  market.  They  come  in  sev- 
eral sizes  and  are  readily  put  in  position.  While  they  shield  the  stems 
from  the  sun  their  value  in  protecting  the  trees  from  jack  rabbits  is 
open  to  question. 

SMEARS. 

Some  orehardists  advocate  painting  the  trunks  of  the  trees  with 
mixtures  distasteful  to  rabbits.     Whitewashing  is  said  to  prove  effect- 


'CoghlaDj  WealtL  and  Progress  of  Now  South  Wales,  1894,  Vol.  I,  p.  356. 
**  ear  Hook  of  Australia,  18(J4,  p.  145. 


SMEARS.  35 

ive  in  borne  cases,  particularly  if  a  mixture  of  glue  and  copperas  is 
added  to  the  solution.  The  mixture  is  made  as  follows:  Take  a  bushel 
of  unslaked  lime  and  add  sufficient  water,  then  add  two  pounds  of 
dissolved  glue,  and  stir  in  thoroughly  one  pound  of  copperas.  Another 
mixture  which  is  said  to  work  well  consists  of  one  pound  of  commercial 
aloes  with  four  gallons  of  water.  A  tea  made  by  steeping  quassia 
chips  is  also  used.1  A  combination  of  potash  and  clay  is  occasionally 
employed,  and  is  mixed  so  as  to  have  a  consistency  like  that  of  thick 
cream.  A  writer  in  the  'American  Garden'  recommends  rubbing  the 
bark  thoroughly  with  blood  or  grease,  and  asserts  that  rabbits  will  not 
touch  trees  that  have  been  treated  in  this  way.  He  adds:  "In  the 
case  of  trees  which  have  been  gnawed  or  peeled,  the  wound  should  be 
covered  with  a  cloth  on  which  is  spread  a  little  grafting  wax.  This  not 
only  excludes  the  air,  but  also  helps  the  injured  pari  to  heal."  The 
New  Zealand  department  of  agriculture  has  recently  recommended  a 
paint  made  of  cow  dung,  clay,  and  soot  and  slightly  flavored  with  tar 
or  spirits  of  tar  for  protecting  the  stems  of  trees  from  rabbits.-  Too 
much  reliance  should  not  be  placed  on  smearing  the  trunks  of  trees,  and 
no  mixture  should  be  used  which  contains  petroleum  in  any  form.  Blood 
or  grease  will  soon  cease  to  be  effective  and  it  becomes  necessary  to 
repaint  the  trees  in  a  short  time. 

1  Wicksi.n.  /.  e.,  p,  553;  2d  ed.,  p.  577. 

2 Leaflets  lor  Gardeners,  etc.,  Xo.  10,  June,  1895,  p.  8, 


CHAPTER   IV. 

METHODS    OF    DESTRUCTION. 

The  destruction  of  rabbits  lias  been  so  carefully  investigated  in 
Australia  that  it  may  be  well  to  refer  briefly  to  the  conclusions  arrived 
at  by  the  Royal  Commission  which  was  appointed  to  inquire  into 
schemes  for  the  extermination  of  rabbits  in  Australasia.  In  a  procla- 
mation dated  August  31,  1887,  the  government  of  New  South  Wales 
offered  a  reward  of  £25,000  for  the  effectual  extermination  of  rabbits 
by  any  method  or  process  not  previously  known  in  the  colony,  but  three 
years  later  a  report  was  made  that  "after  prolonged  and  careful  study 
of  all  the  proposals  which  have  been  submitted,  the  commission  finds 
that  no  scheme  has  been  propounded  for  the  extermination  of  rabbits 
which  complies  with  the  terms  of  the  proclamation.'"1 

INOCULATION. 

The  question  of  introducing  infectious  diseases  was  also  carefully 
considered,  but  while  the  commission  "found  no  evidence  to  warrant 
the  belief  that  any  known  disease  can  be  so  employed  as  to  exterminate 
rabbits,"  it  suggested  that  many  diseases  would  probably  be  fouud 
useful  auxiliaries  in  keeping  the  rabbit  plague  within  manageable 
proportions.2 

The  success  of  disease  as  a  means  of  destruction  depends  on  two 
conditions:  (1)  It  must  be  fatal  to  the  rabbits;  (2)  it  must  not  injure 
man  or  domesticated  animals.  The  Australian  experiments  were  mainly 
confined  to  the  effects  of  (1)  chicken  cholera,  (2)  the  so-called  'Tin- 
tiuallogy  disease/  (3)  diseases  caused  by  the  bladder  worm  (Cwnu- 
rus),  and  (4)  by  rabbit  scab  (Sarcoptes  cunicuJi).  It  was  found  that 
while  the  rabbits  were  easily  killed  by  putting  microbes  of  chicken 
cholera  in  their  food  the  disease  did  not  spread  freely  from  infected  to 
healthy  animals.  The  Tintinallogy  disease  takes  its  name  from  a  sta- 
tion on  the  east  bank  of  the  Darling  River  near  Menindie,  New  South 
Wales,  where  a  peculiar  affection  was  noticed  among  the  rabbits  in 
September  1887.    The  principal  symptoms  are  erection  of  the  fur,  begiu- 


■New  South  Wales  Roy.  Coimn.  Inquiry  Externa.  Rabbits  in  Australasia,  Final 
Report.  1890,  p,  11. 
2L.  c.,  p.  3. 
36 


METHODS    OF    DESTRUCTION    IN    AUSTRALIA.  37 

ningon  the  head;  slight  discharge  from  the  eyes  and  nose,  lasting  three 
or  four  days;  emaciation,  followed  by  loss  of  power  in  the  hind  Legs, 
and  finally  death  with  convulsions  in  about  three  weeks.  Experiments 
were  made  with  this  disease  on  a  large  scale,  but  were  only  partially 
successful.  In  addition  to  the  bladder  worm  and  rabbit  scab,  experi- 
ments have  been  made  in  New  Zealand  with  rabbit  measles  (Cysticercus 
fisiformis)  and  liver  coccidium  (Coocidium  oviforme).  The  latter  para- 
site  is  injurious  to  man,  and  its  introduction  is  therefore  dangerous. 
Diseases  caused  by  parasites  do  not  offer  much  hope  as  a  successful 
method  of  destroying  rabbits,  as  their  effects  at  best  can  be  only  indi- 
rect by  bringing  about  a  condition  of  general  weakness  and  emaciation, 
and  thereby  rendering  the  animal  more  subject  to  attacks  of  other  dis- 
eases. A  full  account  of  these  experiments  will  be  found  in  the  report 
of  Prof.  A.  P.W.Thomas  on  The  Rabbit  Nuisance  in  New  Zealand, 
1888,  and  the  Report  of  the  New  South  Wales  Royal  Commission  on  the 
Introduction  of  Contagious  Diseases  amongst  Rabbits,  Sydney,  1889. 

Further  inquiry  into  the  epidemic  and  parasitic  diseases  of  rabbits 
was  advised  by  the  New  South  Wales  commission,  and  it  may  be  added 
that  this  means  of  destruction  seems  to  promise  better  success  in  this 
country,  where  large  numbers  of  jack  rabbits  are  destroyed  every  few 
years  by  epidemics. 

METHODS  USED   IN  AUSTRALIA. 

No  less  than  1,45G  persons  submitted  schemes  to  the  Australian 
commission  for  the  destruction  of  rabbits  by  methods  other  than  dis- 
ease.   The  various  schemes  were  arranged  under  the  following  heads:1 

1.  Comrnereial  utilization.  7.  Miscellaneous,  including  firing  the  country, 

2.  Fencing.  cutting  off  from  food  and  water,  hunting 

3.  Poisons.  and  trapping  parties,  etc. 
1.  Natural  enemies.  8.  Indefinite  methods. 

5.  Traps.  9.  General  methods. 

(>.  Electricity.  10.  Methods  involving  special  legislation. 

A  method  which  has  been  tried  with  some  success  in  New  South 
Wales,  consists  in  capturing  a  number  of  rabbits  alive  and  allowing  the 
males  to  escape  after  killing  all  the  females.  As  soon  as  the  males 
begin  to  predominate  in  numbers,  it  is  said  that  they  persecute  the 
females  with  their  attentions  to  such  an  extent  as  to  prevent  tliein  from 
breeding,  and  also  kill  the  young  that  happen  to  be  born.2 

The  Australian  commissioners  did  not  favor  commercial  utilization, 
because  "the  principle  of  making  rabbits  a  profitable  article  of  com 
merce  is  universally  condemned  by  practical  men  interested  in  their 
destruction,  on  the  ground  that  it  leads  to  their  conservation."  This 
method,  however,  has  recently  been  brought  to  notice  and  seems  to 
be  one  of  the  most  promising  (see  pp.  05-7^  . 


Final  Report,  1890,  pp. 3-4. 
•Nature,  XXXIX,  March  21.  1889,  i>i».  198-494, 


38  JACK    KABBITS    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES. 

The  question  of  fences  has  already  been  discussed  under  the  head  of 
prevention  of  injury  to  crops  (pp.  33-34).  Poisons, bounties,  and  natural 
enemies  will  !>e  considered  in  detail  further  on.  The  other  schemes 
were  found  to  be  either  impracticable  or  unworthy  of  recommendation 
for  use  on  a  large  scale. 

The  most  successful  traps  used  in  Kew  South  Wales  have  been  yards 
or  inclosures  made  of  rabbit-proof  fence  with  openings  which  allow  the 
rabbits  to  enter  but  prevent  their  getting  out.  Such  traps  have  been 
found  most  efficient  in  dry  seasons,  when  food  and  water  are  scarce. 
Several  methods  of  using* electricity  were  submitted,  but  all  were 
found  impracticable.  Firing  might  be  employed  in  some  cases,  but 
is  attended  with  more  or  less  danger.  Cutting  off  the  animals  from 
food  can  only  be  used  under  certain  favorable  conditions. 

Hunting  and  trapping  parties  have  not  accomplished  much  in  Aus- 
tralia, but  in  certain  parts  of  the  United  States  a  modification  of  this 
method  has  proved  to  be  the  most  successful  means  of  destroying  large 
numbers  of  jack  rabbits.     (See  chapter  on  rabbit  drives,  pp.  47-64.) 

POISON. 

In  this  country  poison  has  been  used  to  some  extent,  although  less 
successfully  than  the  gun  and  club.  As  none  of  the  jack  rabbits  bur- 
row, the  poison  must  be  scattered  about  on  the  surface  of  the  ground 
where  the  rabbits  are  likely  to  find  it,  but  the  bait  should  not  be 
placed  where  domesticated  animals  or  poultry  can  eat  it.  Promiscuous 
scattering  of  poison  in  the  orchard  and  vineyard  is  not  to  be  recom- 
mended under  ordinary  circumstances,  and  when  it  can  not  be  placed 
in  holes  or  out  of  the  reach  of  animals  for  which  it  was  not  intended 
the  danger  is  greatly  increased.  The  importance  of  this  fact  can  hardly 
be  overestimated,  and  every  possible  precaution  should  be  taken  in 
using  poison  for  jack  rabbits.  In  Australia  experiments  have  been 
made  with  strychnine,  phosphorus,  arsenic,  corrosive  sublimate,  lead 
salts,  tartar  emetic,  barium  carbonate,  and  sulphate  of  iron.  Arsenic 
may  be  simply  sprinkled  on  any  food  which  will  attract  the  rabbits, 
but  it  is  more  effectual  when  dissolved  and  the  bait  soaked  in  the 
solution.  Paris  green,  London  purple,  lead  salts,  tartar  emetic,  barium 
carbonate,  and  sulphate  of  iron  have  not  been  found  sufficiently  active 
for  killing  rabbits,  and  corrosive  sublimate  has  a  powerful  acrid  and 
metallic  taste,  which  may  render  it  unpalatable  to  them. 

Of  all  the  poisons  mentioned  above,  strychnine  is  the  most  effective. 
As  the  ordinary  crystals  of  strychnine  are  almost  insoluble  in  water, 
the  sulphate  should  be  used  when  the  poison  is  to  be  dissolved.  It 
may  be  placed  on  bits  of  watermelon,  cantaloupe,  or  vegetables  of 
which  the  rabbits  are  fond,  and  scattered  around  the  orchard  or  vine- 
yard. Babbits  are  said  to  be  attracted  by  a  mixture  composed  of  half 
a  teaspoonful  of  powdered  strychnine,  two  teaspoonfuls  of  fine  salt,  and 
four  of  granulated  sugar,  thoroughly  shaken  up  and  placed  in  small 


poison.  39 

piles  on  a  board.1  Dr.  John  Strentzel,  of  Martinez,  Cal.,  recommends 
mixing  the  strychnine  with  grain  which  has  been  well  sweetened 
with  oil  of  anise  or  rhodium  and  placing  it  where  it  will  be  readily 
found  by  the  animals.  Mr.  A.  Plnmley,  of  Byron,  Cal.,  uses  dry  pul- 
verized strychnine  with  wheat  or  barley  thai  lias  been  soaked  in 
water  and  slightly  wanned.  Sugar  and  flour  are  added  in  suitable 
quantities  and  the  poison  carefully  mixed  with  the  grain  and  spread 
out  to  dry.  The  addition  of  sugar  and  flour  makes  the  strychnine 
adhere  to  the  grain,  and  the  mixture  is  reported  highly  successful. 
Maj.  G.  I\  Meiriam,  of  Twin  Oaks,  Cal.,  recommends  soaking  the  wheat 
in  water  containing  strychnine.  The  wheat  is  barely  covered  with 
water  and  allowed  to  soak  until  the  grain  is  soft,  and  then  dried  as 
thoroughly  and  quickly  as  possible.  A  handful  of  this  dry  wheat 
is  placed  among  the  vines  or  scattered  in  the  trails  made  by  the 
rabbits. 

Phosphorus  is  advocated  by  many  persons,  but  it  must  be  thoroughly 
soaked  into  the  grain;  if  simply  deposited  on  the  outside  and  not  cov- 
ered with  some  protective  material  it  will  oxidize  rapidly.  Wheat 
soaked  in  water  containing  phosphorus  is  highly  recommended.  It 
should  be  used  in  the  following  proportion:  One  hundred  pounds  of 
grain.  1  pound  of  phosphorus,  1  pound  of  sugar,  1  ounce  of  oil  of  rho- 
dium to  9  gallons  of  water.  The  mixture  should  be  heated  to  the 
boiling  point  and  allowed  to  stand  over  night,  then  enough  flour  added 
to  make  it  a  paste.1 

In  Australia  preparations  of  phosphorus  have  been  more  generally 
used.  A  writer  in  the  *  Kyneton  Guardian'  gives  the  following  directions 
for  preparing  the  poison:  Four  aud  one-half  ounces  of  phosphorus  are 
put  into  a  gallon  of  boiling  water  and  kept  boiling  for  thirty  minutes, 
while  the  phosphorus  is  thoroughly  stirred.  The  liquid  should  be 
passed  through  a  fine  strainer.  Fourteen  or  15  pounds  of  malt  are 
then  stiired  in  and  allowed  to  boil  slowly  for  fifteen  minutes,  and 
finally  3  pounds  of  flour  and  4  pounds  of  sugar  are  added.  The 
mixture  is  sown  like  turnip  seed,  in  furrows  plowed  here  and  there  in 
rabbit  infested  places. 

Another  method  of  preparing  phosphorus,  known  as  the  'Lascelles 
process,'  "consists  in  (1)  dissolving  the  phosphorus  in  bisulphide  of 
carbon,  (2)  mixing  the  solution  so  obtained  in  a  churn  with  flour  paste 
so  as  to  form  an  emulsion,  and  (3)  coating  the  wheat  in  a  revolving 
cylinder  with  this  emulsion.  The  solution  of  phosphorus  is  made  and 
kept  under  water,  so  as  to  prevent  spontaneous  combustion.  This 
method  has  the  advantages  of  facility  and  quickness,  of  the  even  dis- 
tribution of  the  poison  over  the  grain,  and  also  of  the  prevention  of 
volatilization  by  the  coating  with  Hour  paste." 


1  Wickson,  California  Fruits.  1889,  p.  564  :  2d  ed.,  1891,  \>.  578. 

-Final  Report,  Royal  Comm.  Enquiry  into  Schemes  Kxterm.  Rabbits  Australasia, 

1890.  p.  6. 


40  JACK   KABI3ITS   OF   THE   UNITED    STATES. 

BOUNTIES. 

Bounties  have  been  paid  on  jaek  rabbits  in  five  of  the  Western 
States — California,  Idaho,  Oregon,  Texas,  and  Utah — but  the  amounts 
have  been  small  as  compared  with  similar  expenditures  for  the  destruc- 
tion of  other  animals.  In  Oregon,  Texas,  and  Utah  the  rates  were 
fixed  by  State  laws,  but  in  California  the  bounties  varied  in  different 
counties.  Bounties  on  rabbits  have  been  even  less  successful,  so  far 
as  extermination  is  concerned,  than  those  offered  for  coyotes,  prairie 
dogs,  pocket  gophers,  or  ground  squirrels. 

CALIFORNIA. 

One  the  main  objects  of  bounties  in  California,  particularly  those 
offered  by  the  counties  in  the  San  Joaquin  Valley,  was  to  encourage 
rabbit  drives,  and  in  some  cases  the  payments  were  almost  sufficient 
to  defray  such  expenses.  Eight  counties  have  offered  bounties  during 
recent  years,  namely,  Butte,  Colusa,  Fresno,  Modoc,  San  Bernardino, 
Shasta,  Sutter,  and  Tulare.  In  the  case  of  Sutter  County,  and  possibly 
one  or  two  others,  the  returns  include  amounts  expended  for  pocket 
gophers  and  ground  squirrels.  Bounties  are  seldom  offered  on  rabbits 
alone,  and  it  is  difficult  to  obtain  the  amounts  expended  for  each 
species. 

A  rate  of  10  cents  per  scalp  was  paid  both  by  Butte  and  Colusa 
counties — the  highest  rate  paid  for  any  considerable  length  of  time. 
In  Butte  County  it  was  maintained  from  January  7,  1887,  to  February 
1, 1890;  in  Colusa,  from  February  10, 1888,  to  September  12, 1892.  The 
bounty  was  then  reduced  to  4  cents  and  continued  to  February  1, 1894. 

In  Fresno  the  bounty  was  offered  merely  to  defray  the  expenses  of 
the  rabbit  drives,  and  was  not  paid  unless  at  least  1,000  pairs  of  ears 
were  presented  at  one  time.  The  total  amount  expended  was  about 
$500,  indicating  that  more  than  33,000  scalps  were  received. 

In  the  spring  of  1880  the  supervisors  of  Modoc  County  offered  3 
cents  apiece  for  rabbit  scalps,  and  in  three  months  expended  $826.77 
for  27,559  scalps.1 

The  bounty  offered  by  San  Bernardino  County  about  two  years  after 
the  passage  of  the  coyote  scalp  act  of  1891,  is  unique  from  the  fact  that 
its  main  object  was  to  offset  the  effect  of  the  State  bounty  on  coyotes. 
The  ordinance  went  into  effect  August  25,  1893,  and  expired  by  limita- 
tion on  December  6  of  the  same  year.  It  provided  that  the  rabbits 
must  be  killed  within  2  miles  of  a  cultivated  orchard,  nursery,  vineyard, 
or  alfalfa  field  not  less  than  1  acre  in  extent,  and  the  scalps  must  be 
deposited  within  thirty  days  with  a  justice  of  the  peace  of  the  town- 
ship in  which  the  animals  were  killed. 

Tulare  County  expended  $5,000  for  bounties  on  ground  squirrels 
previous  to  November  1894,  besides  paying  $3,000  for  bounties  on  rab- 


Forest  and  Stream,  XXVII,  August  5,  1886,  p.  26. 


BOUNTIES.  41 

bits.  The  l  Los  Angeles  Times '  states  that  no  Toss  than  4,000  scalps  were 
secured  in  the  drive  near  Traver,  March  G,  L892,  and  as  many  as  5,391 
have  been  deposited  by  a  single  person  at  one  time.  The  ordinance 
under  which  these  bounties  were  paid  will  serve  as  an  illustration  of 
those  in  other  counties.  It  was  passed  October  31,  L891,  and  reads  as 
follows: 

<  Ordinance  No.  it;. 

The  board  of  supervisors  of  the  County  of  Tulare,  State  of  California,  <lo  ordain 
as  follows : 

Section  1.  [Provides  for  a  bounty  of  2{  cents  on  ground  squirrel  scalps. ) 

Sec.  2.  That  a  bounty  of  one  and  one-half  ($0.0l£)  cents  be  paid  by  this  county 

on  each  and  every  scalp  taken  from  a  jack  rabbit,  containing  both  ears  of  said  dead 
animal,  killed  or  destroyed  by  any  person  or  persons  in  this  county,  upon  the  said 
person  or  persons  so  killing  or  destroying  said  animal  depositing  said  scalp  or  scalps 
with  any  notary  public,  justice  of  the  peace,  or  any  officer  authorized  by  law  to  take 
affidavits,  and  certify  claim  with  said  affidavit,  together  with  affidavit  of  such  officer 
that  said  scalp  or  scalps  have  been  destroyed  by  fire  to  this  board. 

SEC.  3.  That  said  bounty  shall  be  paid  by  the  county  until  such  time  when  the 
funds  set  apart  for  that  purpose  shall  be  exhausted,  or  until  this  ordinance  be 
repealed  or  rescinded  by  this  board. 

Sec.  4.  That  this  ordinance  take  effect  and  be  in  force  from  and  after  the  31st  day 
of  October,  1891. 

Sec.  5.  [Provides  for  publication  of  the  ordinance.] 

So  far  as  figures  are  available,  the  amount  expended  in  California  is 
about  $10,000,  although  no  returns  have  been  received  from  San 
Bernardino  County.    The  amounts  disbursed  are  shown  below : 

Table  shoiviny  expenditures  for  Bounties  by  Counties  in  California. 

,iu,m,vi„  force.  3-WjjB-JJJ.rijjS* 


Butte 


35,  000 


Jan.  7, 1887.  to  Feb.  1,1890 

n  .  \I-Yb.  10, 1888,  to  Sept.  12,  1892 

Colusa '/Sept.  12, 1892,  to  Feb.  1, 1894 

Fresno *  33,  000 

Modoc Three  months,  1886 27,559  j 

Ban  Bernardino Auj;.  25  to  Dec.  6, 1893 

Shasta May  11,  1891,  to   Mar.  1,1892 

Sutler Sept. 25,  1893,  to  Julv  9.1894 

Tulare Oct.  31, 1891,  to  Nov.",  1894.' "200,000 


Cents. 
10 

* 
li 

:; 

20 

$3,  500.  00 
4,  800.  00 

500.  oo 

820.  77 

8 

342.  5.') 
1 3,  040.  42 
3,  000.  00 

r  Estimated  from  amounts  expended. 

f  Includes  also  bounties  on  gophers  and  ground  squirrels,  at  5  Oi  nt-  per  scalp. 


Two  eounties  in  Idaho — Ada  aud  Canyon — are  now  paying  bounties 
on  jack  rabbits  at  the  rate  of  3  cents  per  scalp.  Mr.  Charles  8.  Kings- 
ley,  county  clerk,  has  kindly  supplied  the  figures  for  the  expendi- 
tures in  Ada  County,  and  wrote,  under  date  of  August   -I.  L895,  as 

follows: 

uThe  county  began  the  payment  of  bounty  July,  L878,  and  from  that 
time  until  October,  1880,  paid  $8, 129.75 j  from  the  latter  date  to  the 


42  JACK   RABBITS    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES. 

8th  day  of  July,  L895,  the  county  paid  the  sum  of  $22,1)63.69,  making 
an  aggregate  bf  $31,093.44. 

11 1  have  myself  been  much  interested  in  these  figures,  and  find  that 
daring  the  33  quarters  embraced  in  the  first  period  stated  the  average 
quarterly  amount  was  $232.27,  while  during  the  35  quarters  embraced 
in  the  last  period  the  average  quarterly  payment  amounted  to  $850.50. 
It  is  noteworthy  that  during  1887  (latter  part),  1888,  1889,  and  part  of 
L890  the  .average  quarterly  payments  dropped  to  approximately  $100. 
This  was  due  to  the  very  great  destruction  of  rabbits  during  the  winter 
of  1887  by  extreme  cold.  It  is  thus  seen  that  the  average  has  been 
growing  larger,  notwithstanding  the  bounty,  and  the  figures  for  the 
last  quarter  are  $2,520.65 5  that,  with  the  current  quarter,  are  of  course 
the  heavy  quarters  of  the  year,  and  it  is  possible  the  total  average  per 
quarter  for  the  year  [1895]  will  not  exceed  $1,000.  These  figures 
seem  to  indicate  that  the  bounty  is  not  a  success  in  the  matter  of 
exterminating  the  pests," — and  yet  at  the  rate  of  3  cents  apiece  more 
than  1,000,000  rabbits  must  have  been  destroyed. 

OREGON. 

Under  the  session  laws  of  Oregon,  1887,  a  bounty  varying  from  1  to 
5  cents  was  offered  for  jack  rabbits.  The  law  specially  stated  that  this 
bounty  was  to  be  paid  for  the  Black-tailed  Eabbit,  and  none  seems  to 
have  been  paid  on  the  Plains  Jack  Eabbit  (Lepus  campestris),  which 
occurs  in  the  same  region.  During  the  years  1888, 1889,  and  1890,  Lake 
County  paid  bounties  on  54,000  rabbit  scalps  at  the  rate  of  1  cents  each, 
amounting  in  all  to  $2,160. 

TEXAS. 

In  April,  1891,  the  legislature  of  Texas  passed  "An  act  to  protect 
stock  raisers,  farmers,  and  horticulturists,"  which  provided — 

That  hereafter  when  any  person  shall  kill  any  wolf,  either  coyote  or  lobo,  pan- 
ther, Mexican  lion,  tiger,  leopard,  wild-cat,  catamount,  or  jack  rabbit,  he  shall  be 
paid  in  the  county  in  which  he  kills  such  animal  or  animals  the  sum  of  two  dollars 
for  each  coyote,  and  the  sum  of  one  dollar  for  each  wild-cat  or  catamount,  and  the 
sum  of  five  dollars  for  each  panther,  lobo,  Mexican  liou,  tiger,  or  leopard,  and  the 
sum  of  one  dollar  per  dozen  for  jack  rabbits,  and  fifty  cents  per  dozen  for  prairie 
dogs  so  killed.1 

The  sum  of  $50,  000  was  appropriated  and  expended  in  carrying  out 
the  provisions  of  this  law.  Unfortunately  it  has  not  been  possible  to 
obtain  the  amounts  paid  for  each  of  the  animals  named,  so  that  the 
total  bounty  on  jack  rabbits  can  not  be  stated.  The  burden  of  this 
expenditure  fell  so  heavily  on  some  of  the  southwestern  counties  of  the 
State  that  the  law  was  repealed  in  March,  1895,  and  a  new  act  substi- 
tuted which  made  the  payment  of  bounties  optional  with  the  counties, 
and  omitted  jack  rabbits  and  prairie  dogs  from  the  list  of  proscribed 
animals. 


1  General  Laws  of  the  State  of  Texas,  22d  legislature,  1891,  p.  160,  chap.  100,  sec.  1. 


EXPENDITURES   IN   AUSTRALIA.  43 


Section  2114  of  the  laws  of  Utah  for  1890  authorized  the  county 
courts  to  offer  bounties  for  the  destruction  of  jack  rabbits  and  certain 
other  injurious  animals.  On  September  I.  1893,  a  bounty  of  5  rents 
per  scalp  was  placed  on  rabbits  by  the  court  of  Boxelder  County.  This 
rate  was  maintained  until  January  28,  L895,  when  it  was  reduced  to  2 
cents  per  scalp.  The  county  clerk  reports  that  up  to  December  31, 
1805,  bounties  had  been  paid  on  111  coyotes  at  50  cents  each,  while 
more  than  |500  had  been  expended  for  rabbits,  as  follows: 
* 

Table  showing  expenditures  for  Bounties  m  Utah. 


County. 

Date. 

Number 
of  scalps. 

Rate  per 
scalp. 

Cents. 

2 
5 
2 

Amount 

expended. 

Boxelder 

Do  

Do 

..   Jan.l-Sept  I.  1803 

..    Sept.  1.  is»:ujan.  23,  1895 

...1  Jan.  28  l)«c.  31,  1895 

716 
9, 179 

2,863 

$14.32 
57.  26 

Total 

12.  758 

|530  5:', 

Bounties  represent  the  only  expenditures  made  by  counties  or  States 
in  this  country  for  the  destruction  of  rabbits.  As  shown  above,  the 
totals,  including  the  State  bounty  of  Texas,  which  was  paid  on  several 
other  species  of  animals,  aggregate  about  $100,000,  an  amount  which 
is  insigniticeut  when  compared  with  that  spent  in  Australia. 

EXPENDITURES   IX    AUSTRALIA. 

The  common  rabbit  of  Europe  (Lepus  cuniculus)  was  introduced  into 
Australia  about  the  year  1804  at  Barwon  Park,  near  (ieelong,  Victoria.1 
In  the  course  of  a  few  years  it  spread  over  Victoria  and  westward  into 
South  Australia,  crossing  the  Murray  River  in  1878.  The  following 
year  legislative  action  for  the  destruction  of  the  pest  was  inaugurated 
by  South  Australia,  and  the  example  was  soon  followed  by  Victoria, 
New  South  Wales,  New  Zealand,  Queensland,  and  Tasmania.  No  less 
than  10, 182,539  rabbits  were  destroyed  in  New  South  Wales  alone  iy 
1887.2  But  in  addition  to  the  direct  payment  of  bounties,  the  govern- 
ments of  the  colonies  have  expended  large  sums  for  poisons,  for  experi- 
ments on  various  methods  of  destruction,  and  have  built  several  thousand 
miles  of  rabbit-proof  fences.  As  shown  by  the  following  table,  the  total 
amount  expended  up  to  L888  was  £1,003,800  (more  than  15,000,000)  in 
addition  to  £00,204  (nearly  8500,000)  for  fences. 


•According  to  Hon.  .lames  M.  Morgan,  formerly  United  states  consul-genera]  at 
Melbourne,  rabbits  were  first  introduced  in  western  Victoria  abort  L80O,  for  the 
purpose  of  sport.     (Consular  Reports  for  Dec.,  1886,  XX.  ]>    182. 

-  Circular  on  Rabbit  Destruction.  Committee  New  South  Wales  Comm.  Pastoral 
and  Agr.  Ass.,  Jan.,  1888. 


44 


JACK    RABBITS    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


Government  Expenditures    for  Destruction  of  Rabbits   in  Australia   and  Xeiv  Zealand, 

1S79-18SS.  * 


Colony. 

Date. 

Amount. 

Remarks. 

New  South  Wales 

1883  1888 

t  £732,  23G 

(?) 

128, 595 

131,724 

18,  453 

82, 882 

£23.997  also  expended  for  fences. 
.£59,737  for  fences. 

Queensland 

I'pto  Dec,  1887 

1881-1888 

1879-1888 

On  unoccupied  Crown  lands. 
£12,530    also     expended     for    South 
Canterbury  fence. 

1882-1888 

Tasmania 

May,  1883-Jan.,1888.. 

Total 

1,  093,  890 

Add  £96,264  for  fences. 

*  Progress  Kept.  New  South  Wales  Royal  Com.  Inquiry  Externa.  Rabbits,  4890,  App.  II.  pp.  190-192. 

t  Hon.  J.  H.  Carruthers,  Minister  for  Lands,  gives  £831,457  4s.  Id.,  as  the  total  amount  expended  from 
the  passage  of  the  rabbit  act  in  1883  to  June  30,  1890.  The  figures  for  each  year  are  less  in  nearly 
every  case  than  in  the  statement  quoted  above,  but  represent  the  sums  disbursed  "  solely  for  the  pur- 
pose of  attempting  to  get  rid  of  the  rabbit."  From  July  1. 1890,  to  December  31, 1894,  the  expenditure 
amounted  to  only  £22,761,  which  was  devoted  to  fences.  (Kept.  Conference  Rabbit  Rest  in  New  South 
^Vales   1895  n  6) 

♦Total  expenditures  up  to  1894  (largely  for  fences),  £136,484  8s.-  (Year  Book  Australia  for  1894, 
p.  145.) 

NATURAL  ENEMIES   OF   JACK  RABBITS. 

Birds  of  prey  seldom  molest  the  larger  hares.  Among  those  which 
are  known  to  feed  on  jack  rabbits  are  the  barn  owl  (Strix  pratincola), 
Audubon's  caracara  (Polyborus  cheriway),  prairie  falcon  (Falco  mexi- 
canus),  and  western  red-tailed  hawk  5  but  remains  of  the  Texan  rabbit 
have  been  found  in  the  stomach  of  the  red-tail  in  only  three  cases 
among  a  large  number  examined.  The  western  horned  owl  (Bubo 
virginianus  subarcticus)  and  the  golden  eagle  (Aqnila  chryscetos)  should 
also  be  mentioned.  The  marsh  hawk  (Circus  hudsonius)  occasionally 
attacks  rabbits,  and  Mr.  J.  Alden  Loring  shot  one  at  Yernon,  Tex.,  while 
in  the  act  of  killing  a  young  jack  rabbit  which  weighed  a  pound  and  a 
half. 

The  mammals  in  this  list  are  likewise  few  in  number,  the  most 
important  being  the  coyote  (Canis  latrans),  gray  wolf  (Cams  nubi'lus), 
long-eared  fox  (Vulpes  macrotis),  gray  fox  (Urocyon),  and  wild-cat 
(Lynx).  Skunks,  weasels,  and  badgers  may  occasionally  destroy  the 
young,  but  seldom,  if  ever,  the  full-grown  hares.  The  badger,  an  inde- 
fatigable hunter  of  the  ground  squirrel  and  the  prairie  dog,  is  too  slow 
of  foot  to  overtake  the  jack  rabbit  in  a  fair  race,  and  is  unable  to  cor- 
ner him  in  a  hole,  as  he  can  a  burrowing  animal. 

On  the  Great  Plains  the  gray  wolf  undoubtedly  destroys  large  num- 
bers of  jack  rabbits  in  the  region  from  Colorado  northward.  In  Mon- 
tana, according  to  Dr.  George  Bird  Grinnell,1  "The  abundance  or 
scarcity  of  the  prairie  hare  in  any  district  depends  almost  altogether  on 
the  number  of  wolves  to  be  found  in  the  same  tract  of  country.  Where- 
all  the  coyotes  and  gray  wolves  have  been  killed  or  driven  off,  the  hares 
exist  in  great  numbers;  but  where  the  former  are  abundant,  the  latter 
are  seldom  seen.  We  saw  none  near  the  Missouri  River,  where  the 
bun';i Iocs,  and  consequently  the  wolves,  were  numerous;  but  at  Camp 


Ludlow's  Kept.  Reconnaissance  Yellowstone  Nat.  Park,  1870.,  p. 


EPIDEMICS.  45 

Baker,  where  there  were  scarcely  any  wolves,  the  hares  were  very 
common." 

The  coyote  is  a  most  effective  rabbit  destroyer  and  accomplishes 
more  good  in  this  way  than  he  usually  receives  credit  for.  II is  true 
value,  however,  is  beginning  to  be  appreciated  by  fruit  growers.  The 
following  notes  contributed  by  .Mr.  Vernon  l>ailc\  show  how  coyotes 
sometimes  prey  on  jack  rabbits.     Mr.  Bailey  says: 

Iu  trapping  on  the  greasewood  Hats  about  Keltou,  in  northern  Utah, during  tin 
Latter  part  of  October j  L888,  I  noticed  in  many  places  that  jack  rabbits  (Lepu* 
texiaiuis)  had  been  killed  and  eaten  by  Home  animal.  The  feet,  hits  of  skin,  and  fur 
were  usually  all  that  remained,  hut  I  Immediately  attributed  this  destruction  t*> 
Coyotes,  and  later  on  was  able  to  verity  the  conclusion  by  finding  remains  of  rabbits 
surrounded  by  fresh  coyote  tracks.  In  a  walk  of  a  mile  it  was  common  to  see  \\  here 
a  dozen  had   been  eaten,  and  I  could  even  see  where  the  coyotes  had  inn  and  caught 

the  rabbits.  I  was  surprised  at  the  number  killed,  although  both  rabbits  and 
coyotes  were  numerous.  As  I  walked  through  the  brush  jack  rabbits  would  jump 
ii]>  and  run  every  few  minutes,  and  coyotes  were  frequently  seen.  In  this  particular 
spot  the  numerous  bunches  of  greasewood  (Sarcobatus)  scattered  over  the  smooth 
valley  bottom  gave  the  coyotes  a  great  advantage,  enabling  them  to  approach  close 
to  the  rabbits  and  prohahly  catch  them  before  they  got  fairly  started.  It  is  very 
doubtful  if  a  coyote  can  catch  a  jack  rabbit  in  a  fair  race  on  open  ground. 

About  live  years  ago  the  State  of  California  ottered  a  bounty  of  $5 
each  for  coyote  scalps.  The  act  was  passed  March  31,  1891,  and  pro- 
vided that  such  scalps  should  be  deposited  with  the  clerk  of  the  board 
of  supervisors  of  the  county  in  which  the  animal  was  taken,  within  three 
months  after  the  date  of  capture,  and  must  be  accompanied  by  an  alii 
davit  showing  the  time  and  place  that  the  animal  was  killed.  The  law 
practically  remained  in  force  up  to  September  30,  1892,  when  the  State 
board  of  examiners  refused  to  pass  on  any  claims  for  scalps  taken  sub 
sequent  to  that  date.  The  State  controller  reports  that  the  sum  paid 
for  scalps  during  the  eighteen  months  that  the  law  remained  in  effect 
was  (187,485,  and  that  up  to  June  30,  1894,  no  less  than  71,723  coyote 
scalps  had  been  presented,  with  claims  for  bounty  amounting  to  $358,015. 
This  immense  destruction  of  coyotes  has  permitted  the  increase  of  the 
smaller  animals  on  which  they  feed.  Complaints  have  been  made 
that  the  rabbits  are  increasing  in  numbers  and  that  the  damage  done 
by  them  is  greater  than  that  caused  by  the  coyotes.  As  already  stated, 
the  county  of  San  Bernardino  in  1893  ottered  the  unusually  high  bounty 
of  20  cents  apiece  on  the  rabbits,  which,  as  a  result  of  this  wholesale 
destruction  of  coyotes,  had  so  greatly  increased  in  numbers.  In  this 
remarkable  case  of  legislation  a  large  bounty  was  offered  1>\  a  county 
in  the  interest  of  fruit  growers  to  counteract  the  effects  of  a  State 
bounty  expended  mainly  for  the  benefit  of  sheep  owner-! 

EPIDEMICS. 

.lack  rabbits  are  subject  to  epidemics,  which  occasionally  reduce 

their  numbers  very  materially.  These  outbreaks  are  more  or  less  local, 
but  are  reported  every  few  years.     According  to  Mr.  George  Watkins, 


46 


JACK    RABBITS    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


rabbits  were  found  in  large  numbers  in  Ash  Meadows,  Nevada,  pre- 
vious to  1891,  but  in  the  spring  of  that  year  they  were  very  rare.  He 
attributed  the  decrease  to  the  prevalence  of  an  epidemic,  which  had 
been  so  severe  as  to  render  these  animals  almost  extinct.  In  north- 
eastern California  Mr.  A.  0.  Lowell,  of  Fort  Bidwell,  Modoc  County, 
mentions  seeing  many  dead  rabbits  in  the  autumn  of  1893. 

A  similar  occurrence  is  reported  by  Mr.  F.  Stephens,  near  Beck- 
worth  Pass,  Plumas  County.  Speaking  of  a  trip  through  northeastern 
California  in  August,  1894,  he  says:  " The  epidemic  among  hares  was 
widespread  through  all  the  region  I  passed  over  north  of  Beckworth 
Pass,  being  perhaps  most  noticeable  in  the  Madeline  Plain  on  the  South 
Fork  of  Pitt  Kiver  and  near  the  Nevada  line  south  of  Surprise  Valley. 
In  all  these  places  I  saw  daily  dozens  of  carcasses  near  the  road.  The 
only  cause  of  death  that  I  could  see  was  the  abundant  warbles  (Cutere- 
bra)  present  in  nearly  all.  It  would  seem,  though,  that  these  could 
only  operate  by  lowering  the  state  of  health  generally  and  that  some 
contagious  disease  was  present." 

Dr.  J.  A.  Allen1  speaks  of  an  outbreak  that  occurred  in  the  vicinity 
of  Great  Salt  Lake  in  1870-71,  destroying  large  numbers  of  Lepus 
texianus  and  L.  campestris;  and  Prof.  Marcus  E.  Jones  states  that 
another  occurred  in  Utah  in  1885  or  1886.  A  similar  instance  of  the 
destruction  of  the  Prairie  Hare  (Lepus  campestris)  has  been  mentioned 
by  Mr.  Gibbs  and  Dr.  Cooper,  which  occurred  in  Washington  north  of 
the  Columbia  Eiver  about  1853.1  Mr.  Clark  P.  Streator,  while  at  Pasco, 
Wash.,  near  the  mouth  of  Snake  River,  learned  that  another  epidemic 
had  occurred  among  the  rabbits  in  the  vicinity  during  the  summer  of 
1890.  Maj.  Chas.  Bendire  states  that  the  inhabitants  of  the  Payette 
Valley,  Idaho,  claim  that  epidemics  occur  among  the  jack  rabbits  in 
that  region  every  five  or  six  years.  The  following  table  gives  briefly 
the  epidemics  which  have  been  reported  in  the  West  during  the  last 
forty  years,  but  the  list  is  very  incomplete : 


Partial  List  of  Babbit  Epidemics  in  the  IFest. 


State. 

Locality. 

Date. 

Authority. 

California 

1)0 

Do 

Autumn,  1892 

Ant  umn,  1893 

August,  1894 

(Frequent)  1878... 

Spring,  1891 

1870-71 

1877 

Geo.  B.  Otis,'  Selma 

A.  C.  Lowell,  Fort  Bidwell. 
F.  Stephens. 

Modoc  to  Plumas  County 

Nevada 

Utah 

Ash  Meadows,  Nye  County. . . 

George  Watkins,  Ash  Meadows. 
J.  A.  Allen,  Mon.  N.  Am.  Roden- 

Do 

tia,  1877,  p.  372. 
M.  Richards,  jr.,  Parowan. 
Marcus  E.  Jones,  Salt  Lake  City. 
Cooper  &  Gibbs,  Pac.  R.  R.  Repts., 

XII,  Pt.  II,  1860,  pp.  87, 131. 
Clark  P.  Streator. 

Do 

1885  or  1886 

About  1853 

Summer,  1890 

Washington . .. 
Do 

Near  mouth  Snake  Kiver 

Monographs  of  American  Roclentia,  1877,  p.  372. 


CHAPTER  V. 

RABBIT   DRIVES    AND   HUNTS. 

CALIFORNIA. 

In  certain  parts  of  California  where  jack  rabbits  are  found  in  great 
numbers  the  'drive'  has  proved  the  most  successful  means  of  exter- 
mination. Rabbit  driving  seems  to  have  been  first  introduced  in  the 
San  Joaquin  Valley,  near  Tipton,  Tulare  County,  in  1882,  but  did  not 
attract  much  attention  until  the  winter  of  1887-88.  This  was  daring 
the  'boom'  in  southern  California,  and  it  is  probable  that  the  influx 
of  people  from  the  East,  many  of  whom  settled  in  the  San  Joaquin 
Valley,  was  one  of  the  causes  of  the  sudden  interest  in  rabbit  drives. 
Large  tracts  of  land  were  brought  under  cultivation  in  sections  where 
jack  rabbits  were  very  abundant,  and  it  became  absolutely  necessary 
to  adopt  some  effective  means  of  protecting  the  newly  planted  orchards 
and  vineyards. 

The  origin  of  the  method,  however,  is  somewhat  obscure.  It  is  said 
that  the  Mission  Indians  formerly  hunted  both  cottontails  and  jack 
rabbits  on  horseback.  A  dozen  or  more  Indians  armed  with  clubs  would 
engage  in  such  a  hunt,  and,  riding  at  full  speed  through  the  under- 
brush, would  start  the  rabbits  from  their  hiding  places.  The  cotton- 
tails, confused  by  the  clattering  of  the  horses'  hoofs  and  the  shouts 
of  the  riders,  would  turn  this  way  and  that,  and  either  dodge  into  their 
holes  or  squat  close  to  the  ground,  only  to  be  dispatched  by  a  swift 
blow  from  a  club.  The  jack  rabbits,  on  the  contrary,  usually  made 
for  the  open  plain,  where  they  were  turned  in  their  flight,  and  soon  sur- 
rounded and  killed. 

Long  before  the  settlement  of  the  country  by  the  whites,  the  Indians 
were  accustomed  to  capture  large  numbers  of  jack  rabbits  with  nets, 
the  animals  being  surrounded  and  driven  into  an  inelosnre.  where  they 
were  killed  with  clubs.  One  of  the  earliest  accounts  of  this  custom 
is  contained  in  Townsend's  k  Narrative  of  a  Journey  across  the  Rocky 
.Mountains. *  published  in  1831)  (p. 327).  In  speaking  of  the  Blacktailed 
Jack  Babbit  found  near  Walla  Walla.  Wash.,  he  says:  "The  Indians 
kill  them  with  arrows,  by  approaching  them  stealthily  as  they  lie  con- 
cealed under  the  bushes,  ami  in  winter  take  them  with  nets.  To  do  this, 
some  one  or  two  hundred  Indians,  men.  women,  and  children,  collect 
and  inclose  a  large  space  with  a  slight  net,  about  5  feet  wide,  made  of 

47 


48  JACK    RABBITS    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 

hemp;  the  net  is  kept  in  a  vertical  position  by  pointed  sticks  attached 
to  it  and  driven  into  the  ground.  These  sticks  are  placed  about  5  or  6 
feet  apart,  and  at  each  one  an  Indian  is  stationed  with  a  short  club  in 
his  hand.  After  these  arrangements  are  completed,  a  large  number  of 
Indians  enter  the  circle,  and  beat  the  bushes  in  every  direction.  The 
frightened  hares  dart  off  toward  the  nets,  and,  in  attempting  to  pass, 
are  knocked  on  the  head  and  secured.  Mr.  Pambrun,  the  superintendent 
of  Fort  Walla  Walla,  from  whom  I  obtained  this  account,  says  that  he 
lias  often  participated  in  this  sport  with  the  Indians,  and  has  known 
several  hundred  to  be  thus  taken  in  a  day.  When  captured  alive,  it 
does  not  scream,  like  the  common  gray  rabbit  (Lepns  sylv aliens)." 

The  Indians  of  southern  Oregon  also  carried  on  rabbit  drives  some 
years  ago,  especially  near  the  Oregon-Nevada  boundary  line,  near  Fort 
McDermitt.  Several  hundred  rabbits  were  killed  at  a  time  and  util- 
ized for  food,  while  their  skins  were  made  into  clothing.  During  his 
second  expedition,  Ool.  J.  0.  Fremont  found  the  same  method  of  cap- 
turing rabbits  used  by  the  Piutes  of  Nevada  and  eastern  California.* 
In  describing  one  of  his  camps  on  the  east  slope  of  the  Sierra  Nevada, 
evidently  near  the  head  of  the  Truckee  River,  he  says,  under  date  of 
January  31,  1844:  "We  had  scarcely  lighted  our  fires  when  the  camp 
was  crowded  with  nearly  naked  Indians;  some  of  them  were  furn- 
ished with  long  nets  in  addition  to  bows,  and  appeared  to  have  been 
out  on  the  sage  hills  to  hunt  rabbits.  These  nets  were  perhaps  30  to 
40  feet  long,  kept  upright  in  the  ground  by  slight  stakes  at  intervals, 
and  were  made  from  a  kind  of  wild  hemp,  very  much  resembling  in 
manufacture  those  common  among  the  Indians  of  the  Sacramento 
Valley." 

Maj.  Chas.  Bendire,  while  returning  from  Deep  Spring  Valley  to 
Camp  Independence,  Gal.,  in  November,  I860  or  1867,  saw  the  Indians 
engaged  in  driving  jack  rabbits  on  the  east  side  of  Owens  Valley,  a  few 
miles  south  of  Bishop.  A  corral  had  been  made  by  stretching  low  nets 
between  stakes  placed  about  20  feet  apart.  Into  the  inclosure  thus 
formed  the  animals  were  driven  from  a  considerable  area  in  the  valley, 
and  it  was  estimated  that  300  or  400  rabbits  were  killed  in  this  drive. 
The  nets  were  made  by  the  Indians,  and  each  hunter  was  required  to 
furnish  his  quota.  Mr.  F.  V.  Ooville,  botanist  of  the  Death  Valley 
Expedition,  learned  that  similar  nets  were  formerly  used  by  the  Indians 
of  Ash  Meadows,  Nevada.  These  nets  were  made  from  the  Indian  hemp 
[Apocynum  cannabinum),  which  furnishes  a  strong  and  excellent  fiber. 
The  same  material  was  evidently  used  by  the  tribes  in  the  eastern  part 
of  the  State,  for  Bancroft,  in  speaking  of  the  Indians  near  the  Utah 
boundary,  says:  "The  Gosh  Utes  take  rabbits  in  nets  made  of  flax 
twine,  about  3  feet  wide  and  of  considerable  length.  A  fence  of  sage 
brush  is  erected  across  the  rabbit  paths,  and  on  this  the  net  is  hung. 
The  rabbits  m  running  quickly  along  the  trail  become  entangled  in  the 


Rept.  Expl.  Expd.  to  Oregon  and  Calif.,  1845,  p.  227  (House  Doc.  Xo.  166.) 


PLAN    OF    THE    DRIVES. 


49 


meshes  and  are  taken  before  they  can  escape."    (Native  Races  of  the 
Pacific  States,  I,  1874,  p.  428.) 
The  Moki  Indians,  of  northeastern  Arizona,  have  practiced  rabbit 

driving  for  a  number  of  years.  The  hunts  are  made  both  on  loot  and 
with  horses,  and  the  rabbits  are  simply  surrounded  instead  of  being 
driven  into  an  inclosure.  A  peculiar  kind  of  weapon,  resembling  a 
boomerang',  is  employed  in  these  hunts,  and  is  thrown  with  such  accu- 
racy that  it  proves  very  effective  in  the  hands  of  Indians  accustomed 
to  its  use.  Similar  drives  were  also  made  by  the  Indians  in  northern 
New  Mexico,  near  Espanola.  The  Piutes  and  other  tribes  in  Utah  used 
to  assemble  in  large  numbers  in  a  valley  near  Cedar  City,  where  they 
engaged  in  a  grand  hunt  each  November,  killing  thousands  of  rabbits 
for  their  skins  and  for  food. 

The  modern  'rabbit  drives'  are  conducted  on  much  the  same  plan 
as  those  of  the  Indians,  but  precautions  are  taken  beforehand  so  that 
no  escape  is  left  for  the  ani- 


^  R 


X 


R 


mals  when  once  surrounded. 
A  square  or  triangular  in- 
closure, open  at  one  end,  is 
constructed  of  wire  netting 
— or  of  laths  securely  fas- 
tened close  together.  Often 
a  corner  of  some  old  corral 
is  simply  made  rabbit-tight, 
and  from  the  open  end  of 
the  pen  diverging  fences  or 
wings  are  carried  out  in  the 
form  of  a  wide-mouthed  V, 
sometimes  for  a  distance  of 
li  or  3  miles  ( see  fig.  1).  The 
fences  are  occasionally  made 
in  sections,  so  that  they  can 
be    transported    from    one 

place  to  another,   and   thus    D,  drivers;  E,  entrance  to  corral;   It.  rabbits.    (From  Am. 

used  for  several  drives.   The    Fiel<1  1888-> 

Goshen  Rabbit  Drive  Club,  organized  in  the  spring  of  1888,  had  an 
'outfit'  which  cost  about  8150,  and  was  considered  one  of  the  best  in 
the  San  Joaquin  Valley;  it  was  used  mainly  near  Goshen,  but  was  also 
moved  to  Huron,  Fresno  County,  where  it  did  duty  for  some  time.  This 
outfit  consisted  of  1  mile  of  wire  netting  28  inches  wide,  and  100  iron 
stakes  three-fourths  of  an  inch  in  diameter  and  3  or  4  feet  long.  The 
stakes  were  set  15  or  20  feet  apart,  and  the  netting  fastened  t<>  them. 
At  the  apex  of  the  wings  a  circular  corral  was  built  60  to  200  feet  in 
diameter  and  provided  with  a  sliding  gate  i  see  p.  50  . 

Mr.  Charles  S.Greene,  m  describing  the  drive  at  Traver  on  April  8j 
181V2, '  states  that  the  wings  used  on   thai   occasion  were  made  of  wire 

•Overland  .Monthly,  2d  ser.,  XX.  .Inly.  1892,  p.  54. 
8615— No  8 4 


Fig  1.— Diagram  showing  form  of  corral  used  in  ral>bit 
drive  at  Bakersfield,  Cal.,  Jan  15,  1888. 

A,  B,  portable  wired  pieket  fence,  1  mile  long;  C,  eorral; 


50  JACK    RABBITS    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 

netting  and  were  not  more  than  2  feet  high.  Although  he  saw  rabbits 
leap  much  higher  during  the  early  part  of  the  drive  they  made  no 
attempt  to  escape  over  the  fences  when  the  wings  were  reached,  the 
animals  evidently  being  too  wearied,  as  they  had  been  driven  for  some 
distance.  On  the  other  hand,  in  a  small  drive  which  took  place  near 
Claremont  on  September  9,  1893,  no  wings  or  corral  were  built,  but  an 
attempt  was  made  to  utilize  a  corner  of  a  stone  wall  3  or  4  feet  in  height 
instead.  The  rabbits  were  driven  only  a  short  distance  and  when  the 
wall  was  reached  it  is  said  that  most  of  them  went  over  it  like  sheep, 
and  comparatively  few  were  killed.  In  the  great  drive  at  Wildflower, 
Fresno  County,  the  wings,  made  of  wire  netting,  were  3  feet  in  height 
and  extended  for  a  distance  of  7  miles,  converging  toward  a  circular 
corral  at  the  apex. ] 

A  drive  always  means  a  gala  day,  and  is  a  favorite  way  of  celebrat- 
ing some   special  occasion.      The  announcement  is  the   signal  for   a 

gathering  of  the  clans  from 
all  the  neighboring  country 
and  the  population  of  the 
place  is  increased  to  sev- 
eral times  its  normal  size 
when  such  an  event  takes 
j)lace.  Excursionists  are  at- 
tracted in  large  numbers  by 
the  special  rates  offered  by 
the  railroads,  and  sometimes 

Fig.  2.— Diagram  showing  form  of  portable  corral  used  by  (»0me     from     DOintS     aS     far 

the  Goshen  .Rabbit  Drive  Club.  . 

A,  B,  wings  of  wire  netting  each   half  a  mile  long;  C,  distant    as     Sail     FranciSCO 

corral  GO  to  200  feet  in  diameter;    E,  sliding  gate.     (From  anc[  SaCrameiltO.     UpOU  the 

M.  S.  Featherstone.)  .     ,     ,      n          , 

appointed  day  large  num- 
bers of  people  turn  out  armed  with  sticks  and  clubs,  and,  scattering 
over  a  considerable  area,  start  the  rabbits  and  drive  them  toward  the 
mouth  of  the  corral.  Every  available  vehicle  is  pressed  into  service, 
but  the  larger  part  of  the  throng  is  usually  on  foot.  The  lines  grad- 
ually close  in,  and  the  frightened  rabbits,  urged  on  by  blows  and 
shouts,  rush  blindly  into  the  opening  between  the  wings  and  are  grad- 
ually crowded  toward  the  narrow  end  of  the  pen  where  they  are  soon 
dispatched  with  clubs.  Firearms  are  seldom  used  either  in  driving  or 
killing,  as  clubs  are  cheaper,  safer,  and  equally  effective.  The  drives 
take  place  in  winter  or  spring,  and  the  number  of  rabbits  killed  varies 
from  a  few  hundred  up  to  ten  or  even  twenty  thousand  in  a  single  day. 
The  town  of  Traver  regularly  celebrates  its  birthday  in  April  by  a  rabbit 
drive  and  barbecue.  On  April  8,  1892,  it  was  estimated  that  no  less 
than  G,0()0  persons  were  present,  and  more  than  4,000  people  and  1,000 
teams  took  part. 


See  figure  in  Scientific  American,  LXI,  No.  19.,  Nov.  9,  1889,  p.  295. 


DRIVES    IN   CALIFORNIA.  51 

A  writer  in  the  Chicago  Tribune  of  October  1,  L893,  thus  graphic- 
ally describes  one  of  the  Largest  drives  which  has  taken  place  in  the 
vicinity  of  Fresno,  Cal.: 

A  close  fence  forming  the  corral  is  built  aboul  500  yards  sqnare,  with  an  opening 
or  entrance  lor  receiving  the  drive  at  one  end,  the  opening  being  perhaps  50  feel 
wide.  This  is  the.  finishing  point  of  the  drive,  and  will  hold  thousands  of  rabbits. 
From  this  opening  diverge  two  fences,  close  enough  to  keep  the  rabbits  from  jump- 
ing through)  about  5  feel  bigh.  These  two  fences  diverge  from  the  entrance  for 
about  3  miles,  increasing  in  their  distance  apart  as  they  increase  in  distance  from 
the  ent ranee.  * 

By  7  o'clock  in  the  morning  all  is  hustle  and  preparation  for  the  drive.  Some 
men  have  heavy  sticks  and  sonic  heavy  clubs,  but  no  pistols  or  any  kind  of  firearms 
arc  allowed,  and  no  dogs.  The  sticks  and  clubs  are  used  to  l»eat  the  brush  and  to 
kill  the  rabbits  at  the  finish. 

A  general  is  appointed  to  give  orders,  and  under  him  are  those  who  keep  the  lines 
in  order.  But  sometimes  they  are  anything  but  orderly.  The  order  to  Btart  being 
given  along  the  line,  the  cavalcade  rushes  forward.  Boys  with  hoots  and  cries  run 
hither  and  thither,  wielding  their  sticks.  .Men  on  foot  in  advance  lines  are  followed 
by  those  on  horseback  and  in  vehicles.  Those  on  fool  seem  to  have  the  best  b  i 
in  putting  up  the  rabbits.     * 

After  advancing  a  few  miles  the  commencement  of  the  fences  diverging  from  the 
corral  can  be  seen.  The  scene  is  humorous  at  times,  when  a  horseman  is  seen  dash- 
ing :it  full  speed  after  a  jack  rabbit  and  a  man  oil  foot  running  in  another  direction 
after  another.  Now  hundreds  of  the  poor  creatures  are  easily  discerned  as  the 
fences  appear  on  the  left  and  right,  miles  apart.  .Many  try  the  back  track  only  to 
meet  death  in  the  attempt.  All  the  horsemen  gallop  in  cowboy  style,  sonic  with 
long  sticks  in  their  hands.  Great  numbers  of  rabbits  dash  in  every  direction 
in  front  of  the  advancing  hosts,  and  far  ahead  the  long  ears  of  hundreds  more  can 
be  seen  racing  for  life,  occasionally  crouching  and  then  starting  ahead  again,  but 
still  surely  advancing  into  the  inevitable  death-trap.  The  close  proximity  to  the 
finish  makes  the  chase  exciting.  Those  on  foot  are  heated  and  eager.  The  fence  on 
each  side  is  closing  in  fast,  and  although  still  some  distance  from  the  corral  the 
screaming  of  the  poor  creatures  can  be  heard  as  they  hud  their  retreat  cut  off. 

The  climax  of  the  drive  is  now  at  hand.  Hundreds  of  men  and  boys  rush  in  every 
direction.  The  horsemen  and  carriages  partly  hide  the  view.  The  clouds  of  dust 
are  stilling.  Now  the  screeching  of  the  rabbits  can  be  heard  above  everything,  and 
the  ground  is  covered  with  dead  rabbits  by  the  dozen.  At  the  corral  entrance  the 
scene  is  indescribably  pitiful  and  distressing.  To  slash  and  heat   the  poor 

screaming  animals  to  death  is  the  work  of  but  a  short  time,  hut  n  brings  tears  to 
many  an  eye.  and  makes  the  heart  sore  to  witness  the  finish.  It  is  a  relief  to  every- 
body when  all  is  still,  when  the  trying  day  is  at  an  end.  The  result  of  the  drive  at 
Fresno  was  20,  000  dead  rabbits. 

The  rabbits  killed  in  the  drives  are  utilized  in  various  ways.  If 
they  are  in  good  condition  some  are  dressed  and  shipped  to  market 
where  they  find  a  ready  sale,  lint  usually  the  drives  are  carried  on 
solely  for  the  pnrpose  of  exterminating  the  pests.  In  localities  where 
a  bounty  has  been  offered  the  ears  are  collected  for ' scalps'  and  the 
bodies  not  saved  for  food  are  either  used  for  fertilizing  purposes,  fed 
to  hogs,  or  thrown  away. 

Drives  have  occurred  in  nine  counties  of  California,  viz:  Inyo.  Lofl 
Angeles,  Modoc.  Fresno,  Kern.  Kings.  Madera,  Merced,  and  Tulare. 
With  the  exception  of  those  in  Inyo.  Los  Angeles,  and  Modoc,  all  have 


52  JACK    RABBITS    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 

taken  place  in  the  southern  part  of  the  San  Joaquin  Yalley.  Data  are 
available  for  only  a  few  drives  east  of  the  Sierra  Nevada,  one  being 
the  Indian  hunt  already  mentioned,  which  took  place  in  1866,  near 
Bishop,  Inyo  County,  and  the  others  in  Modoc  County  in  the  extreme 
northeastern  corner  of  the  State — in  Surprise  Valley,  just  east  of  the 
Warner  Mountains,  and  near  Likely,  on  the  South  Fork  of  Pitt  Eiver. 
It  may  also  be  noticed  that  the  drive  at  Claremont,  Los  Angeles  County, 
is  the  only  one  which  has  occurred  at  a  point  well  within  the  range  of 
Lcpus  calif  or  nicus,  and  although  it  resulted  in  the  destruction  of  only 
about  a  hundred  rabbits  is  especially  interesting,  as  it  seems  to  be 
one  of  the  few  drives  in  which  the  California  Jack  Eabbit  alone  was 
killed.  All  the  large  drives  have  been  made  in  localities  where  the 
Texan  Jack  Rabbit  is  the  predominant  if  not  the  only  species.  The 
largest  drives  have  occurred  in  the  vicinity  of  Bakersfield  and  Fresno. 
They  usually  extend  over  considerable  country,  and  one  of  the  Fresno 
drives  has  been  described  by  Mr.  Charles  H.  Townsend,  in  which  nearly 
2,000  horsemen  took  part.  This  hunt  covered  some  20  square  miles, 
and  about  15,000  rabbits  were  driven  into  a  central  corral  and  killed. 
(Forest  and  Stream,  XXXVIII,  March  3,  1892,  p.  197.) 

ORIGIN  OF   THE   DRIVES. 

The  feasibility  of  driving  jack  rabbits  into  a  corral  for  wholesale 
destruction  was  demonstrated  about  twenty  years  ago ;  but  rabbit  driv- 
ing as  now  carried  on,  began  within  the  last  decade.  At  first  the  ani- 
mals were  shot  instead  of  being  killed  with  clubs,  and  these  hunts  were 
known  as  shotgun  drives. 

Mr.  George  W.  Stewart,  editor  of  the  Visalia  Delta,  has  kindly  con- 
tributed the  following  notes  concerning  the  early  drives  in  California: 

The  first  rabbit  drive  in  the  San  Joaquin  Valley,  and  probably  in  the  State, 
occurred  in  the  year  1875.  The  firm  of  Haggin  &  Carr  had  begun  to  farm  a  large 
body  of  land  in  Kern  County,  at  the  southern  end  of  the  San  Joaquin  Valley,  which 
up  to  that  time  had  been  used  only  as  a  cattle  range.  The  manager,  a  Mr.  Souther, 
was  much  anuoyed  by  the  ravages  of  thousands  of  jack  rabbits  on  what  is  known 
as  Kern  Island  [a  tract  of  land  about  15  miles  long]  formed  at  that  time  by  branches 
of  Kern  River.  Mr.  Souther  collected  a  large  number  of  his  vaqueros  and  other 
ranch  hands,  and  these  men,  mounted  and  on  foot,  surrounded  a  large  territory  and 
gradually  closed  their  lines  toward  a  large  cattle  corral,  into  which  the  rabbits 
were  driven.  Many  rabbits  escaped  through  the  line,  but  the  result  of  this  first 
drive  was  1,200  rabbits  and  2  coyotes.     *     *     * 

The  next  great  slaughter  of  jack  rabbits  occurred  eleven  years  later  near  Han- 
ford,  now  the  county  seat  of  Kings  County.  Notice  had  been  given  beforehand,  and 
on  March  3,  1886,  about  250  men  from  Hanford  and  the  adjacent  country,  armed  with 
shotguns  (rifles  and  pistols  were  barred),  surrounded  a  large  area  of  country  6  miles 
south  of  the  town.  As  the  circumference  of  the  circle  gradually  lessened,  the 
shooting  commenced,  and  when  loss  than  a  mile  in  diameter  the  firing  was  incessant, 
the  continuous  discharge  making  the  noise  of  a  small  battle.  When  the  last  jack 
rabbit  bad  been  shot  the  army  halted  for  a  lunch.  A  number  of  men  had  shot  as 
many  as  50  rabbits  each,  and  it  was  estimated  that  3,000  had  been  slain.  In  the 
afternoon  a  fresh  supply  of  ammunition  was  secured  and  another  smaller  tract  of 


ORIGIN    OF    THE    DRIVES.  53 

country  was  surrounded  and  the  battle  continued.  The  result  of  the  afternoon's 
work  was  1,000  hares,  making  1,000  for  the  day,  One  result  of  this  exciting  day 
was  a  realization  of  the  danger  of  using  guns  in  this  manner;  several  people  were 
peppered  with  shot,  but  none  were  seriously  injured. 

The  following  year,  1887,  the  rabbits  had  become  so  destructive  on  tk<-  greal  Miller 
&,  Lux  ranch,  on  the  west  side  of  Merced  County,  that  men  were  employed  to  kill 
them.  The  hunters  were  supplied  with  horses,  wagons,  and  ammunition,  and  were 
paid  5  cents  for  every  rabbit  killed.  Over  7,000  were  killed  on  that  one  ranch  (luring 
the  season. 

The  first  largo  rabbit  drive  on  the  plan  afterwards  adopted  took  place  near  l'ix- 
ley,  in  Tulare  County,  on  November  11.  1887,  a  year  and  a  half  after  the  Hanford 
slaughter.  Firearms  of  all  kinds  were  forbidden,  and  dogs  were  not  allowed  within 
the  lines.  A  corral  of  rabbit-proof  wire  was  made,  and  from  its  entrance  two 
V-shaped  wings  extended  a  distance  of  a  mile  and  a  half.  Into  this  space  the  rabbits 
were  driven.  Many  hundreds  stampeded  and  broke  through  the  line,  but  the  result 
of  the  drive  was  2,000. 

The  mod  en  i  method  of  driving  rabbits  into  a  corral  seems  to  have 
originated  with  Mr.  W.  J.  Browning,  a  professional  hunter,  of  Tipton, 
Tulare  County.  Stimulated  by  an  offer  of  $1,000  for  1,000  live  jack 
rabbits  for  coursing,  Mr.  Browning  undertook  to  capture  the  animals  by 
driving  them  into  a  corral  made  by  stretching  fish  nets  between  posts. 
In  a  letter  dated  January  15, 1895,  he  says:  "I  commenced  the  busi- 
ness of  trapping  jack  rabbits  with  a  corral  drive  net,  with  wings  about 
half  a  mile  long,  during  the  summer  of  1882.  I  have  shipped  many 
thousands  to  all  parts  of  the  country,  alive,  for  coursing  purposes. 
*  *  *  En  driving,  I  use  six  or  eight  men  mounted  on  good  horses, 
and  in  this  manner  usually  trap  from  50  to  500  jacks.  The  big  drives 
of  this  State  were  patterned  after  my  system,  as  the  first  drive  I  ever 
heard  of  outside  of  my  own  was  made  [at  Pixley]  in  this  county  in 
1887,  in  the  month  of  November." 

In  order  to  obtain  all  the  information  possible  on  the  subject  of  rab- 
bit driving,  Mr.  J.  Ellis  McLellan,  a  field  agent  of  the  division,  was 
detailed  to  visit  Merced,  Fresno,  Bakerslield,  and  other  points  in  the 
San  Joaquin  Valley  in  the  autumn  of  1894.  Mr.  McLellan  gathered 
many  facts  of  interest,  and  the  following  brief  account  lias  been  mainly 
condensed  from  his  reports,  while  the  list  of  drives  on  pages  55-67  is 
largely  the  result  of  his  energy  in  collecting  data. 

Early  in  the  autumn  of  1887  the  question  of  taking  measures  for  a 
wholesale  destruction  of  jack  rabbits  was  discussed  in  Kern  County, 
but  nothing  was  done  for  some  months,  and  the  project  would  probably 
have  proved  a  failure  through  apathy  or  opposition  had  it  not  been 
vigorously  agitated  by  the  press.  In  the  meantime,  however,  an  exper- 
iment was  made  at  Pixley,  Tulare  County,  and  the  ftrsl  public  drive 
took  place  there  on  November  11.  L887.  Two  thousand  rabbitswew 
killed,  and  it  was  demonstrated  that  jack  rabbits  could  l»c  successfully 
driven  into  a  corral.  Another  drive  took  place  on  Decembers,  and 
1,000  more  were  slaughtered.  Rabbit  driving  began  in  earnest  in 
Kern  County  on    January   2,   1888.     The  iirst    drive   was  made   near 


54  '    JACK    RABBITS    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 

Bakersfield,  and  was  followed  by  others  at  intervals  of  a  week  or  ten 
days  with  such  success  that  the  method  attracted  widespread  atten- 
tion throughout  the  valley.  Great  interest  was  aroused  in  Tulare 
County,  and  on  February  25  the 'Pioneer  Rabbit  Drivers' Club' was 
formed  and  driving  was  undertaken  by  various  towns  in  quick  succes- 
sion. The  first  drive  near  Tipton  took  place  January  28,  at  Tulare  on 
February  1,  at  Waukena  February  11,  at  Yisalia  March  1G,  and  at 
Travel-  April  7.  Not  to  be  outdone  by  Kern  and  Tulare  counties,  the 
citizens  of  Fresno  met  on  February  8,  and  decided  to  arrange  for  a  rabbit 
drive  and  barbecue,  which  was  held  on  March  1&,  An  association  for 
rabbit  driving  was  also  organized  in  Merced  County,  and  the  first  drive 
took  place  at  Merced  on  March  24.  During  this  time  the  matter  seems 
to  have  been  dropped  at  Pixley  and  the  credit  of  originating  the  novel 
method  of  rabbit  destruction  was  claimed  by  several  other  towns. 

In  February  and  March,  1888,  rabbit  driving  seems  to  have  reached 
its  height  in  the  San  Joaquin  Valley.  It  was  estimated  by  the  news- 
papers that  nearly  20,000  rabbits  were  killed  in  Tulare  County  during 
March  alone;  while  about  40,000  were  destroyed  in  Fresno,  and  70,000 
each  in  Kern  and  Tulare  counties  during  the  spring  of  1888.  With 
the  close  of  this  season  there  was  a  noticeable  falling  off  in  the  num- 
ber of  drives,  either  through  lack  of  interest  or  because  the  rabbits 
had  decreased  in  numbers  to  some  extent.  Comparatively  few  took 
place  in  1890  and  1891,  but  in  the  spring  of  1892  several  large  ones 
were  made  in  Fresno  County.  The  largest  on  record  occurred  between 
Easton  and  Oleander,  10  or  15  miles  southwest  of  Fresno,  and  formed 
the  closing  event  of  an  encampment  of  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic 
at  Fresno,  March  12, 1892.  It  is  said  that  8,000  people  were  present,  and 
the  estimates  of  the  number  of  rabbits  killed  vary  from  20,000  to  30,000 
(see  PI.  IV).  The  central  location  of  Fresno  makes  it  an  easy. matter 
to  bring  together  large  numbers  of  people  at  short  notice.  Since  1892 
there  has  been  a  still  further  decrease  both  in  the  number  and  size  of 
the  drives,  and  except  at  Traver,  hardly  any  large  ones  have  taken  place 
in  the  State.  The  custom  has  been  somewhat  revived  during  1893  and 
1894  in  Modoc  County,  where  it  is  said  a  few  drives  were  held  iu  1889. 

It  is  impracticable  to  give  a  complete  list  of  all  the  drives  or  an 
accurate  statement  of  the  number  of  rabbits  killed.  The  figures  pub- 
lished in  newspapers  are  probably  often  exaggerated,  but  in  most 
cases  afford  the  only  data  available.  With  the  assistance  of  many 
correspondents  statistics  for  about  a  hundred  and  fifty  of  the  more 
important  drives  have  been  collected.1  As  shown  by  the  following 
table,  more  than  370,000  rabbits  have  been  destroyed,  but  these  prob- 
ably represent  only  a  small  proportion  of  the  total  number  actually 
killed  in  California.. 

'The  writer  is  indebted  to  many  persons  for  aid  in  the  preparation  of  the  follow- 
ing list.  Besides  those  named  below  should  he  mentioned  Messrs.  Charles  H.  Shiun, 
of  Berkeley,  Walter  E.  Bryant,  of  Oakland,  and  F.  H.  Holmes,  of  Berryessa,  who 
have  assisted  in  various  ways. 


Bull.  8,  Div.  Ornithology  and  Mammalogy,  U    S.  Dept.  Agriculture. 


Plate  V. 


37 


119' 

r~       \  MA'RIf' 
^ivindstorv- 

Jvterced-  s 

„»adera. 

.aVina. 


n8° tw* 


•3% 


30 


35 


^3£%- 


'%. 


FRESNO 


37 


^V(!^S|tfi&   SJnd^err^erxce. 


Fresn.o 
^       \       Ectstoa  jJV^> 


T  U  L  a  :k  e  |  it 


^^^rf§§v£)  Mohave 


;v^«#ti 


36 


35 


^^M'^l'lii 


Wl^JSi^^j|E»ftJ»tt 


-t-3* 


4J94 


118* 


417' 


Map  showing  Location  of  Rabbit  Drives  in  Southern  California. 

Drives  have  occurred  at  each  place  marked  with  a  black  spot. 


DRIVES    IN    CALIFORNIA. 
List  of  California  Rabbit  Drives. 


55 


Fresno  Comiti/. 

Caruthers  (6  miles  west) 

Easton  (12  miles  southwest 
of  Fresno). 

Do 

Do 

Fresno  (5  miles  south) 

Do 

Do 

Do 

Fresno  (10  miles  south) 

Fresno 

Do 

Do  

Huron 

Wild  Flower. 

Do 


Kern  <  'ounty. 

Bakerslield 

Do 


Do. 


Bakersfleld  (Houghton  dairy) 
Bakersfleld  (4  miles  weal  I   - 
Bakers  lie  Id    (Bosedale,  3 
miles  north). 

Do.... 

Do 

Bakerstield  (5  miles  south)    . 
Bakerslield  (6    miles   south- 
east). 

Do 

Do  

Delano 

Delano  (10  miles  southwest). . 

Delano  (9  miles  west) 

Delano 


Haggin  &  Carr  Ranch,  Kern 

Island. 
kfou.n1  View  dairy  w  (13  miles 

southwest  of  bakersfleld). 

Do 

Do 

Do 

Mount  View  dairy1* (13 miles 
southwest  of  Bakersfleld) 
(shotgun  drive). 
Mount \  lev. dan  •  ' ;  (1  :  mil;  s 
southwest  .ii  Bakersfleld). 
Mount  View  dairy1"  ( [3  miles 
southwest  of  Bakerstield) 
(shotgun  drive). 

Do 

Do 


Feb.  22, 1892 
Feh.  13,1892 


Mar. 

Mar. 

Mar. 

Mar. 
Apr. 
A  pr. 
Mar. 
Mar. 
Mar. 
May 
July 

Mar. 
Mar. 


12,1892 
18, 1892 

16, 1888 

24, 1888 
12, 1888 

25. 1888 

23. 1889 

13,  1893 
18.  1S9I5 

5, 1894 
12, 1891 

14,  1888 
1, 1889 


Jan.  23,1888 
Jan.  30,1888 
5,  1888 


Feh'. 


Feh.  12,1888 

Feb.   19,1888 
Feb.  25,1888 


Mar. 
Mar. 


4. 1888 

3. 1889 


Jan.     2,  18 

Jan.  10,1888 

Feh.  9, 1888 
Oct.  1, 1888 
Jan.  20,1889 
May    3,1891 


May  16,1891 
June  6,1891 
June  10,  1894 
Dec.     9,1894 

Dec.  16,1894 
Dec.  23,  1894 
Feb.  4,1888 
Feh.  19,  1888 
July  13,  1888 
Nov.  14-Dec. 
31, 1894. 

1875 

Jan.  15,1888 


-"jo. 

1.  500? 

900  s 

'14,723 

300 

1,200 
151 

10.500 
1,000 
2.500 


5  12,  000 


6  1,126^ 

796< 

75,075,» 

500  s 

3,  500 

8  1,  600 

200 

1,500 

2,500 

3,500 

1,  000 

350 


Authority. 


Ahah  A.  Baton. 
Weekh    Fresno  Bxposib 


Feb.   17,  1892; 


Foresl    and    Stream,    \.\X\  HI,   Mar.  3, 

L892,  107     15,000. 
Photograph  hj  F.  M  Stiffler,  Oakland. 

Weekly   Fresno  F  \  posit  or.  Mar.  22    I- 

Fresno   Daily    Republican,   Mar.  i. 

Expoaitor  Mar  22. 
Fresno  Daily  Republican,  Mar  •-'.">.  I8f 
Fresno  Daily  Republican,  Apr.  13 
Fresno  Expositor,  Apr.  25, 1*8*. 
Fresno  Daily  Republican  Mar  _'t,i889. 
Photograph  i>v  E.  R.  Unpins  Fresno. 
Chicago  Daily  News  May  10 
Daily  Evening  Expositor,  Ma\ 
TulareCountyTimes(Visalia).Julj  16,  1891. 

Weekly  Visalia   Delta,  Mtr.  29, 

Scieutilic  Am.,  LX1,  Nov,  9, 1S80.  p.  295. 


San    Francisco  Mining  and  Sci.  Press  .Jan. 
28,  1888,  p.  51. 

Do. 

Weekly  Kern  County  Echo,  Feb.  16,1888. 
Weekly  Kern  County  Feho,  Oct.  8.  1888. 
Weekly  Kern  County  Feho.  .Ian  24 
Weekly  Kern  County  Feho,  May  7,  1891, 

Weekly  Kern  County  Echo,  May  21,  1891. 
Gus.  Ivrat/.mer.  Bakersfleld. 
Weekly  Kern  County  Echo,  June  14,1894. 
c.  A.  Nelson,  Bakersfleld. 


B.  L.  Brundage,  Bakersfleld. 

Do. 
Delano  Courier,  Feh.  10,  18*8. 
Delano  Courier,  Feh.  24.  1888. 


500 

200 

5,500 

5,500  j 

10,000  j  Delano  Courier,  July  20,  1888. 
9  25,  000     Hill  &.  Conrad,  Delano. 

1,200  !  Geo.  W.  Stewart,  editor  Visali.i  Delta. 

>>3,500      Weeklj  Kern  County  Echo,  Jan.  19,  L888. 

2,000  Weekly  Kern  County  Echo,  Jan.  26.  1888. 

5,000  Weekly  Kern  County  Echo,  Feb  2,  L888. 

5,000  Weekly  Kern  County  Feho,  Feb. 

500  Weekly  Kern  County  Echo.  Feh.  16, 1888. 


7,000 
1,000 


1,946 
4,428 


Weekly  Kern  County  Echo,  Feb.  23,  1888. 
Weekly  Kern  County  Echo,  Mar.  2,  1888. 


Weekly  Kern  County  Echo,  Mar.  - 
Shooting  and  Fishing,  V,  Mar.  28  U 


1  Actual  count— 7,000  in  the  corral,  7,000  dead  outside. 

2  The  great  ( i.  A.  It.  drive,  which  took  place  between  Easton  and  Oleandeax  the  largest  drive  on 
The  Weekly  Fresno  Expositor  of  Marco  16, 1892,  places  the  number  of  rabbits  killed  at  25,000. 

3 Badly  managed;  about  20,000  rabbits  rounded  an;  all  but  2,000 escaped. 

4Two  drives  same  day;  9,723  by  actual  count;  about  4,000  hauled  away  before  count 
taken  alive  for  Merced  coursing  match. 

'Mr.  M.  S.  Featherstone.  of  (  rOShen,  states  that  only  8,(>nu  were  killed  by  actual  count. 

62.500  estimated  to  have  been  killed  alt. .-ether. 

'500  estimated  to  have  been  killed  outside  the  corral. 

•Private  <lri\e.  covering  16  sections. 

'Thirteen  private  drives.    About  two-thirds  of  these  rabbits  were  shipped  t>>  the  San  Ft 
market. 

"Returns  for  these  drives  vary.    Messrs.  Nelson  &  Bailej  have  circulated  a  clipping  from  tta 
County  Echo  with  their  photograph  of  the  drive  of  March  4,  1888,  w  bich  nives  the  followina  i 

January  2.  2,600;  January  8,  8,000;  January  15,5,500;  January  -  '•.  2 January  B0   1,006;  F. 

5,5,000:  February  9,  500;  February  12,4,500;   February  19,7,000;  February  2:;.  £500;  March  4 

•'3.000.  according  to  N    F.  White  in  American  Field,  XXX,  November  3,"  1888,  410-411. 

12 Actual  count,  tirst  drive,  5,500;  second,  1,500. 


record. 

i;    1,000 


6  K.rn 

gures: 
binary 

2,000.' 


56 


JACK    RABBITS    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


List  of  California  Rabbit  Drives — Continued. 


Locality. 


Date. 


Rabbits 
killed. 


Authority. 


Kings  County. 

Haiiford  (shotgun  drive) 

ll.inibrd  (Cross  Creek) 

Hanford  (Iialf  way  to  Traver) 

Los  Angeles  County. 

Claremont  ...-• 

Madera  County. 
Berendo  (Desmond  Ranch) 


Do 


Berendo  (Miller  Ranch) . 
Berendo 


Berendo  (Miller  Ranch). 


Berendo :• . . . 

Do 

Do 

Do    

John  Brown  Colony 


Do 

Do 

Do 

LaVina 

Madera  (4  miles  west).. 
Madera  (5  miles  south). 
Madera  (3  miles  west) . 

Madera 

Madera  (5  miles  south) . 
Madera  (3  miles  west) . . 


Merced  County. 
Athlone  (10  miles  west) . 


Do. 


Athlone  (16  miles  south) 

Hartley  Ranch  (near  Beren- 
do. Madera  County). 

Hartley  Ranch  ? 

Livingston 

Do 


Do. 
Do. 
Do. 
Merced 
Do. 
Do. 
Do. 
Do. 


Modoc  County. 
Cedarvillo  (3-12  miles  south) 

Cedarville  (7  miles  north). . . 
Lake  City 

Do 

Do 

Do 

Lake  City  (2  drives) 

Lake  City 

Do 5 

Do 

Likely  (several  drives) , 

Tulare  County* 

Alila 

Do 

Goshen 


Mar.    3,1886 

Mar.  —,1888 
Apr.  22, 1888 

Sept.   9,1893 


Mar. or  Apr., 

1888. 

....do  

....do 

Jan.  or  Apr., 

1889. 
Feb.  or  Mar., 

1892. 

1892 
Feb.  24,1895 
Feb.  28,1895 
Mar.  9,  1895 
Apr. or  May, 

1890. 
Spring,  1891 
Spring,  1892  ! 
Mar.  — ,  1893 
Apr.  — ,  1890 
Dec.  30,1888 
Feb.  —,1889 
Mar.  14, 1889 
Apr.  — ,  1889 
May  — ,  1889 
Feb.  17,1895 


Do. 
Do. 
Do. 
Do. 


Spring,  1888 

do 

.-..do 

Mar.  16, 1895 

Feb.  8, 1895 
Apr.  4,1893 
Apr.  or  May, 

1893. 
Apr.  25, 1893 
1893  ? 
Apr.  4, 1894 
Mar.  24, 1888 
Mar.  28, 1888 
Apr.  4,1888 
Apr.  16,1888 
Mar.  12, 1889 


Jun  e  -July, 

1893. 
Dec.  20,1894 
Jan.  5,1893 
Jan.  15,1893 
Jan.  20,1893 
Jan.  25,1893 
Feb.  —,1893 
Dec.  30,1894 
Jan.  5, 1895 
Jan.  20,1895 


Sept,  15, 1888 

Sept.  22, 1888 

1888 

Apr.  11,1888 
Jan.  20,1889 
Feb.  15, 1889 
Mar.  — ,  1889 


3,  ooo; 

1,000< 

1,  250' 

'4,569 


100 


5,000 

250 
500 
400 


400 


2,900 

3,000 

1, 500-1, 600 


2,500 

1,200 

1,  400-1,  500 

750 

400 

2,500 

1,050 

1,000 

1,500 

250 


1,200-1,500 

1,200-1,500 

1, 200-1,  500 

200 

2,100 

8,000 
2,500 

1,000 
250 
2,000 
1,000 
2,000 
2,800 
1,700 
2,000 


George  W.  Stewart,  editor  Visalia  Delta. 

Weeklv  Visalia  Delta,  Mar.  29, 1888. 
Weekly  Visalia  Delta,  Apr.  26, 1888. 

Pomona  Times,  Sept.  13, 1893. 


H.  D.  Crow,  Berendo. 

Do. 
Do. 
John  J.  Purkner,  Madera. 

H.  D.  Crow,  Berendo. 

H.D. Crow  and  Miss  L.K.  Gozzoli,  Berendo. 
J.  F.  Ward,  Berendo. 

Do. 

Do. 
John  J.  Purkner,  Madera. 

L.  TJ.  Hoskins,  Madera. 

Do. 

Do. 
John  J.  Purkner,  Madera. 
Weekly  Visalia  Delta,  Jan.  10, 1889. 
John  J.  Purkner,  Madera. 
J.  F.  AVard,  Berendo. 
John  J.  Purkuer,  Madera. 

Do. 

Do. 


W.  H.  Bowden,  Athlone. 

Do. 

Do. 
J.  F.  Ward,  Berendo. 

Do. 
F.  Crowell,  Livingston. 
Do. 

Do. 
Diary  of  D.  L.  Heffner,  Merced. 
F.  Crowell,  Livingston. 
San  Joaquin  Valley  Argus,  Mar.  24, 1888. 
San  Joaquin  Vallev  Argus,  Mar.  31, 1888. 
H.  N.  Wilson,  Merced. 
San  Joaquin  Valley  Argus,  Apr.  21, 1888. 
San  Joaquin  Valley  Argus,  Mar.  16, 1889. 


3,  000     T.  H.  Johnston,  Cedarville. 


Do. 

S.  O.  Cressler,  Lake  City. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 
Wm.  J.  Dorris,  Likelv. 


Delano  Courier,  Sept.  21, 1888. 

DelaUO  Courier,  Sept.  22,  1888  (announced). 

Shooting  and  Fishing,  V,  No.  13,  Jan.  24, 

1889,  p.  10. 
Weekly  Visalia  Delta,  Apr.  12, 1888. 
Tulare  Register,  Feb.  1,1889. 
M.  S.  Featherstone,  Goshen. 
Weekly  Visalia  Delta,  Mar.  21, 1889. 


'3,969  in  the  corral,  and  600  estimated  to  have  been  killed  outside,  all  on  one  section  of  land. 

2  Mr.  D.  K.  Zumwalt,  of  Visalia,  has  kindly  furnished  the  statistics  for  16  drives  in  this  county,  and 
sevoral  in  Fresno,  Kern,  and  Kings  counties. 

3  About  200  more  were  killed  outside ;  a  second  drive  was  made  later,  but  the  figures  were  not  given. 

4  2,390  actually  driven  into  the  corral;  the  others  killed  outside. 


RESULTS    OF    THE    DRIVES. 


57 


List  of  California  Babbit  Thrives — Continued. 


Locality. 


Hat.   . 


Rabbits 
killed. 


Tulare  County — Continued. 

Jonesa A  pr . 

Oakdalo Mar.  18,  1888 

Oakdalo  (3  miles  south) Mar.  24, 1888"< 

Pixlev Nov.  14,1887 

Do Dec.     3,1887 

Do March,   1888 

Do June   1,1888 

Pixley  (12  miles  south) :  May  —.1889 

Pixlev '  Aug.  20,  189:5 

Do I  Nov. (7  0. 1894 

Do Dec.  14,  1804 


Pixley  (other  drives4) 

Piano  (18  miles  west) 

Poplar 

Do 

Tipton  (Lake  View  school). 

Tipton 

Tokay  (5  miles  south  Tulare) 

Tokay  

Traven Set  t  lers  ditch,  south- 
west of  town). 
Traver 

Do 

Do 

Do 


dan.  20,  1895 
Jan.  27.  1895 
Jan.  28.1888 
May  18,1889 
Mar.  10,1888 
Feb.  85,  1890 
Apr.    7, 1888: 

Feb,  20.1889 
Mar.  8,1889 
Aur.  — ,  1891 
..'..do 


Do. 
Do. 

Do. 

Do. 
Do. 
Do. 
Do. 


Authority. 


4.  DIM) 

'  2.  200 

1.211 

■  2,000 

1,000 

1,300 

8,000-10.000 

1 .  000 

300-400 

3,  900 

12(H) 

3,  000-4.  000 


145 
235 
420 
117 
2,500 

1,000 

1,200 


Traver (10  miles  southwest). . 

Traver 

Tulare  (Mitchell    Panch,   6 

miles  West  i. 

Tulare  (Birch  Ranch,  7  mile3 

West). 

Tulare  (7  miles  south) 

Tulare 

Do 

Tulare  (6  miles  east) 

Tulare 

Tulare   (Park wood,  7  miles 

northwest). 
Tulare 

Do 

Do 

Tulare    (Mitchell    Panch,    G 
miles  W68l  I. 

Visalia 

Visalia  (north  of  town) 

Visalia  (?)  (McCann  Panch).. 
"Waukena 

Do 

Do 

Do 

Do 


Mar.    G,  18926 
Apr.    8,1892 

Feb.  -  Apr.. 

1892. 
Apr.  8,1893 
Feb.  25.1894 
Mar.  4.1894 
Apr.  7,1894 
Mar.  31,1895 
Apr.  8, 1895  I 
Feb.  11,1888 

Feb.  15, 1888  1 

Feb.  20. 1888 
Feb.  24,  1888  ' 
Mar.  2.1888, 
Mar.  4.1888 
Mar.  9,1888 
Mar.  24, 1888 


Feb.  0. 
Feb.  25, 
Mar.  30, 
Feb.  -, 

Mar.  16, 
Mar.  18. 
Apr.  14. 
Feb.  11, 
Feb.  2, 
June  11, 
J  une  30. 
Nov.  10, 


L889 

1889 
1889 
1890 


Weekly  Visalia  Delta.  A.pr.26  1888. 

Weekly  Visalia  Delta.  Mar  28 

Do. 

Tulare  Register,  Nov.  L8  1887. 

Tulare  Regisb  r.  D<  C.  '.'. 

Samuel  Shilling.  Pixlej  . 

John  W.  Harper,  Pixley. 

Samuel  Shilling,  Pixlev. 

John  W.  Harper,  Pixley. 

Ma.j.  C.  J.  Berry,  Vi-alia 

John   W.    Harper,   Pixley;    <i.   J.    Martin, 

Poplar— 290. 
John  W.  Harper,  Pixley. 
William  Thomson,  Piano. 
G-.  J.  Martin,  Poplar. 

II". 

W.J.  Browning,  Tipton. 
Tulare  Register,  Hay  24,  18*0. 
Tulare  Register,  Mar.  Hi.  1888. 
M .  s.  Featherstone,  I  loshen. 

Weekly  Visalia  Delta,  Apr.  12.  1888. 

Fresno  Daily  Republican,  Mar. ! 
Fresno  Daily  Republican,  afar.  l".    - 
Henry  Lahann,  Traver. 

Do. 
Los  Angeles  Times,  Mar.  7,  1802. 
C.  S.  Greene,  Overland  Mont  hi  v.  2d  ser., 

XX,  July,  1892.  pp.  49-58. 
4  drives,7  Henry  Lahann.  Traver. 

2,500  lleurv  Lahann,  Traver. 

2, 000  Do. 

1,500  Do. 

2,  000  Visalia(TulareCountv»Times,  Apr.  12, 1894. 

370  s.  s.  Cederberg,  Hanford. 

3iii)  Jleurv  Lahann,  Traver. 

85,000  Weekly  Visalia  Delta,  Feb.  16,  1888. 

2,500  \  Photograph  from  D.  K.  Zumwalt,  Visalia. 

1,000  |  Tulare  Register.  Feb.  24.  1888. 

2.  300  Weekly  Visalia  Delta.  Mar.  1, 1888. 

3.000  Tulare  Register,  Mar.  2.  1888. 

2,232  Tulare  Register,  Mar.  9.  1888 

2.000  Tulare  Kegister,  Mar.  Hi,  1888. 

2, 200  j  Tulare  Register,  Mar.  30,  1888. 

1,  400 
350 
200 


1,  500 

500 

4,  000 

4,000 

12, 000 


1888 

1888 
1888 


1894 
1894 


3,300 

1,400 

400 

5,000 

1,067 

500 

500 

150 


Tulare  Register,  Feb.  in.  1889. 
Tulare  Register,  Feb.  28 
Tulare  Register,  Apr.  5,  1889. 
M.  S.  Featherstone,  Goshen. 

f 

Weekly  Visalia  Delta.  Mar.  29,  1888. 

Do. 
Weekly  Visalia  Delta,  Apr.  IS 
Weekly  Visalia  Delta,  Feb.  H 
We.-klv  Visalia  Delta.  Feb.  7 
W.  F.  Glass,  Waukena. 

Do. 

Do. 


1  300-400  more  probably  killed  before  reaching  the  corral. 

2  Another  drive  announced  tor  March  29,  1888. 

3  First  public  drive  in  California. 

1  Several  small  shotgun  drives  took  place  about  1882  and  1883.— J.  Ellis  Mela-Han. 
6  Another  drive  announced  for  April  15,  1888. 

6  Third  drive  of  the  season.    Another  was  planned  for  March  13,  1892.  but  no  report  has  been  received. 

7  Six  drives  in  all  took  place  during  February  ,  March,  and  April,  in  \\  hich  20,000  were  killed. 

8  About  1,000  more  estimated  to  have  escaped.     Another  drive  planned  lor  March  18. 

RK6ULTS   <>i     i  in     i>i:i\  i>. 


Although  it  is  practically  impossible  to  give  all  the  rabbit  drives 
which  have  occurred  in  California  during  the  last  eighl  years,  still  this 
listof  155  drives,  including  tin-  more  important  ones  during  the  twenty 
years  from  1875  to  1895,  should  be  sufficient  to  show  the  progre>>  of 


58 


JACK    RABBITS    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


rabbit  driving  and  the  effect  of  this  means  of  extermination.    The  gen- 
eral results  may  be  tabulated  as  follows: 

Summary  of  California  liabbit  Drives. 


Number  of  drives. 

Rabbits  killed,... 

Average  d  umber 

per  drive 


Before 

1888. 

1888. 

1889. 

*  1890. 

1891. 

1892. 

1893. 

1894. 

1895. 

Misc.    Total. 

4 

8,200 

2,050 

55 
158,  492 

2,881 

20 
34, 963 

1,748 

1 
750 

7 
14,  500 

2,071 

12 
65,  060 

5,421 

15 
32,010 

2,134 

29 
41,310 

1,424 

12 
11.160 

930 

"3,"756" 



155 
370, 195 

2,387 

*  Returns  incomplete;  4  drives  reported  but  figures  given  for  only  1. 

An  examination  of  these  figures  shows  that  in  the  total  of  155  drives 
370,195  rabbits  were  killed,  or  an  average  of  nearly  2,400  in  each  drive. 
Returns  for  years  previous  to  1888  have  been  received  for  only  4  drives 
in  which  8,200  rabbits  were  killed,  but  during  the  spring  of  1888  the 
number  of  drives  suddenly  increased  to  55,  and  then,  as  the  novelty  wore 
off  or  the  rabbits  became  scarcer,  decreased  to  7.  During  the  same 
period  the  number  of  rabbits  slaughtered  decreased  from  nearly  100,000 
in  1888  to  14,500  in  1891.  In  1892  there  were  a  few  more  drives  and  a 
decided  increase  in  the  slaughter  of  rabbits,  due  to  the  large  drives  in 
Fresno  County.  The  total  of  65,060  rabbits  was  second  only  to  that  of 
the  season  of  1888,  but  in  the  last  three  years  there  has  been  a  decided 
falling  off  in  the  totals.  The  apparent  increase  in  the  number  of  drives 
in  1893  and  1894  is  due  in  part  to  the  small  hunts  in  Modoc  County,  but 
the  number  in  the  San  Joaquin  Valley  has  continued  to  decline  regularly 
until  1895,  when  only  12  small  drives  were  reported. 

The  largest  number  of  rabbits  killed  in  any  single  drive  is  said  to 
have  been  20,000,  but  the  average  of  all  the  drives  for  any  one  year  has 
varied  from  5,400  down  to  930  the  past  season.  By  far  the  greater 
number  have  been  killed  in  the  southern  part  of  the  San  Joaquin  Valley 
in  a  strip  about  170  miles  in  length  and  30  miles  in  width.  If  the  small 
drives, in  the  northern  part  of  the  State  and  the  single  one  in  Los 
Angeles  County  are  omitted,  as  well  as  the  two  early  shotgun  drives, 
the  result  is  reduced  to  about  356,400  rabbits  killed  in  140  drives  during 
eight  years,  or  an  average  annual  slaughter  of  about  44,500  rabbits  in 
an  area  scarcely  as  large  as  the  States  of  Connecticut  and  Rhode  Island 
combined.  The  success  of  the  drives  is  evident  from  the  small  number 
of  rabbits  killed  during  the  last  three  years.  This  result,  at  least  in 
Fresno  County,  is  probably  due  in  part  to  the  appearance  of  an  epidemic 
among  the  jack  rabbits  soon  after  the  large  drives  of  1892.  One  cor- 
respondent writes  from  Selma:  "Just  as  it  had  been  found  possible  to 
control  their  presence  in  the  more  thickly  settled  part  [of  Fresno 
County]  an  epidemic  appeared  among  them  and  they  died  by  hundreds 
and  by  thousands.  *  *  *  Since  then  we  have  kept  a  few  dogs  and. 
the  wire-screen  fences  have  been  gradually  taken  down,  and  now  very 
few  rabbits  are  to  be  found  among  the  vines." 


RABBIT    DRIVES    IN    OREGON. 


59 


Whether  the  present  diminution  in  numbers  is  only  temporary  re 
mains  to  be  seen,  but  this  section  of  California  is  now  being  settled  bo 
fast  that  it  seems  hardly  possible  for  the  rabbits  to  increase  to  their 
former  abundance  under  all  the  forms  of  destruction  which  can  be  used 
against  them.  The  case  is  instructive  in  showing  the  combined  effect 
of  natural  and  other  means  of  extermination.  If  rabbits  could  be  Bys 
tematically  destroyed  just  after  their  numbers  had  been  reduced  by  an 
epidemic,  they  would  receive  a  setback  from  which  they  would  not  soon 
recover. 

The  decline  of  rabbit  driving  is  hardly  to  be  deplored.  In  the  San 
Joaquin  Valley  a  drive  was  made  the  occasion  of  a  general  holiday;  the 
schools  were  closed  and  women  and  children  joined  the  throng  to  assist 
in  clubbing  the  rabbits  or  to  watch  the  slaughter.  It  may  be  ques- 
tioned whether  such  frequent  scenes  of  butchery  can  have  anything 
but  an  injurious  effect  on  a  community,  and  it  is  fortunate  that  the 
necessity  for  them  does  not  now  exist. 

OREGON. 

In  Oregon  the  California  method  of  destroying  rabbits  by  drives  has 
been  recently  introduced.  Throughout  the  region  east  of  the  Cascades 
the  black-tailed  Texan  Jack  Rabbit  (Lepus  texicmus)  is  very  abundant 
and  has  become  so  troublesome  in  Lake  County  that  $2,1G0  was  ex- 
pended for  its  destruction  during  the  years  18S8,  1889,  and  L890. 
More  than  a  dozen  drives  were  made  in  December  1804,  and  January 
ISO."),  in  the  vicinity  of  Lakeview.  In  one  of  these,  which  took  place 
on  January  G,  1,975  rabbits  were  killed,  while  the  total  number  slaugh- 
tered during  the  two  months  amounted  to  12,202.  Several  drives, 
resulting  in  the  destruction  of  3,000  to  4,000  rabbits,  have  occurred 
during  the  winter  of  1895-90,  but  in  the  absence  of  any  detailed  report 
they  have  not  been  included  in  the  following  table. 

Partial  List  of  Rabbit  Drive*  in  Oregon. 


Locality. 

Date. 

Rabbits 
killed. 

Antliorii  v. 

Lake  Count;/. 

Dec.  18  1894 

1   (154 

C.U.  Snider.  Lakeview,  Oreg. 
Do. 

Do 

Dec.  •_'".  1894 

1,767 

Do 

Dec.  22,  1894 

D., 

Do 

Dec.  24   1894 

Do 

Do 

1>.  i      27,  1894 

1 .  592 

Do. 

Do 

Dec.   30,  1894 

300 

Do. 

Do 

Jan.     3,1895 

97:; 

Do. 

Do 

Jan.    6,1895 

i,975 

1).,. 

DO 

Jan.    in.  1896 

1.  146 

D... 

Do 

Jan.    17.  L89S 

304 

Do. 

Do 

Jaa    20,1895 

200 

Do. 

Do 

Jan.  24.  1895 

280 

Do. 

Do 

Other  drives 

50Q 

Do. 

Total  (12  drives) 

12,  202 

Average 

1,016~ 

GO  JACK    RABBITS    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 

BABBIT   HUNTS. 

It  may  be  of  interest  to  consider  the  methods  of  destruction  which 
have  been  used  in  other  States.  Two  of  the  jack  rabbits  which  occur 
in  California  (Lcpns  texianus  and  L.  campestris)  are  common  also  in 
Utah,  Idaho,  and  Colorado,  and  in  some  sections  are  excessively  abun- 
dant. An  entirely  different  method  of  extermination,  however,  is  prac- 
ticed from  that  adopted  in  California.  Large  numbers  are  killed  with 
shotguns  in  regularly  organized  hunts,  but  rabbit  drives,  properly 
speaking,  are  now  rarely  made,  except  in  Idaho. 

UTAH. 

According  to  Mr.  M.  Kichards,  jr.,  of  Parowan,  Utah,  the  club  was 
formerlyused  in  some  of  the  rabbit  hunts  on  the  brushlands  bordering 
Little  Salt  Lake,  and  as  many  as  2,000  rabbits  have  been  killed  in  a 
drive,  but  this  method  has  now  been  abandoned  and  shooting  has  been 
adopted  instead. 

Rabbit  hunts  have  taken  place  since  the  earliest  settlement  of  the 
State — nearly  half  a  century  ago — but  when  they  were  first  held  by 
the  Indians  is  unknown.  The  Piutes,  Goshutes,  and  Pah  van  Indians 
were  accustomed  to  resort  to  a  large  valley  near  Cedar  City  during  the 
month  of  November,  for  the  purpose  of  having  a  grand  hunt,  and  thou- 
sands of  rabbits  were  annually  slaughtered.1  Strangely  enough,  the 
first  hunt  among  the  whites  of  which  we  have  any  record  probably 
occurred  very  near  this  place,  and  was  participated  in  by  a  party  of 
emigrants  on  their  way  from  Salt  Lake  City  to  California  in  1849.  It 
was  a  portion  of  the  same  company  which  soon  after  experienced  such 
hardships  on  the  desert,  and  on  account  of  whose  sufferings  the  now 
celebrated  Death  Valley  in  California  received  its  name.  This  early 
rabbit  hunt  probably  took  place  in  the  month  of  October,  1849,  some- 
where in  the  region  north  of  Little  Salt  Lake,  either  in  Iron  or  Beaver 
County.  Mr.  W.  L.  Manly.2  one  of  the  members  of  the  party,  describes 
the  hunt  as  follows: 

"We  came  into  a  long,  narrow  valley  well  covered  with  sage  brush, 
and  before  we  had  gone  very  far  we  discovered  that  this  was  a  great 
place  for  long-eared  rabbits — we  would  call  them  jack  rabbits  now. 
Everyone  who  had  a  gun  put  it  into  service  on  this  occasion,  and  there 
was  much  popping  and  shooting  on  every  side.  Great  clouds  of  smoke 
rolled  up  as  the  hunters  advanced,  and  the  rabbits  ran  in  every  direc- 
tion to  get  away.  Many  ran  right  among  the  horses,  and  under  the 
feet  of  the  cattle  and  under  the  wagons,  so  that  the  teamsters  even 
killed  some  with  a  whip.  At  the  end  of  the  valley  we  went  into  camp, 
and  on  counting  up  the  game  found  we  had  over  500,  or  about  one  for 
every  person  in  camp. " 

1  Cones  &  Yarrow,  Rept.  Geog.  Surv.  W.  100th  Mevid.,  V,  Zool.,  1875,  p.  127. 
-Death  Valley  in  '49,  1894,  pp.  110-111. 


RABBIT    HUNTS    IN    UTAH. 


61 


31r.  James  L.  Bunting,  of  Kanab,  writes  that  between  1858  and 
1870  rabbits  were  very  abundant  on  the  land  between  the  Jordan 
River  and  Great  Salt  Lake.  In  November  and  December  hunters 
would  go  out  almost  daily  in  parties  of  from  four  to  six  each,  and  on 
some  occasions  as  many  as  500  rabbits  were  killed  in  a  single  day. 

The  hunts  usually  take  place  in  the  winter  or  early  spring  when  the 
snow  is  on  the  ground,  and  are  thus  described  by  W.  Gr.  Nowers  in  a 
letter  dated  February,  1887.     He  says : 

uOur  mode  of  destroying  these  pests  is  to  select  two  captains,  who 
choose  their  associates  from  the  community,  ami  form  two  attacking 
parties,  who  ride  or  go  with  tirearms,  dogs,  clubs,  and  so  on,  and  lay 
siege  to  every  rabbit  caught  sight  of.  In  some  instances  the  slaughter 
has  amounted  to  nearly  1,000  for  each  side.  These  raids  are  waged  on 
every  favorable  opportunity — after  a  snowstorm,  or  monthly,  if  no  snow 
falls,  as  has  been  the  case  this  winter." 

Babbit  hunts  have  occurred  in  a  number  of  places  in  southwestern 
Utah,  but  are  less  common  in  the  northern  part  of  the  State.  One,  how- 
ever, took  place  near  Corinne  during  the  summer  of  1894.  According 
to  Prof.  Marcus  E.  Jones,  as  many  as  a  dozen  or  fifteen  hunts  have 
occurred  annually  during  recent  years.  One  of  the  largest  is  described 
by  Mr.  Vernon  Bailey  as  having  taken  place  near  Panguitch,  Garfield 
County,  in  1885.  It  lasted  three  days,  and  some  80  men  and  boys  took 
part,  killing  more  than  5,000  rabbits  within  a  few  miles  of  the  town. 
As  will  be  seen  from  the  following  table,  the  recent  Utah  hunts  are 
small  in  comparison  with  those  in  Colorado  or  the  California  drives. 

Partial  List  of  Babbit  Hunts  itt  (tab. 


Locality. 

Date. 

Rabbits 
killed; 

Authority. 

Beaver  County. 

Dec,  1886 

5  oi  in 

Do     . 

1894 

1,600 

9  3nn 

Do 

Do 

Feb     1895 . . . 

Do. 

July.  1887 2,000-»,000 

Dr<:..  1887,  or  Jam,    1,500-2,000 
1888. 

Summer  1S94 sou  4ii() 

Do 

Do. 

Boxelder  County  .  f 

Editor  Bugler,  Brigham  city. 

Kelton 

1,000 

Garfield  County. 

1885 

David  W.  Montague,  Panguitch. 

w.  L.  Manly.  'Death  Vail,-.  In  »49',  no 
Will  ('.  Biggins,  Cedar  City. 
Do. 

Iron  Coviit;i. 

Xear  Little  Salt  Lake  ? 

Cedar  City 

Kanarraville 

Do 

Oct.  (.'),  1849 

Feb.  24, 1894. 

Deo. 21,  L893 

Jan  28   Feb  "  1895 

500 
527 
172 
169 

_"iiah 

Parowan 

Do 

I'm      

Do 

Summit 

Feb.  11-14, 1895.... 

Spring  1875 

Spring  1885 

Jan.  18,1894 

Jan.  31.  1894 

Jan.  20-26, 1895.... 

Iron  Count;  Record  Feb  15,  L895. 
2,000    If .  Richards,  Jr.,  Parowan.    (Drive). 

1     SOU                   I),,. 

Will  C.  1 1  i  _  _                  City. 
Do. 

l.  ■-".•ii     Iron  County  Record  Feb.  1 

M   sars.  Dotson  &  Son  report  thai  21,000-22,000  rabbits  were  killed  in  two  months  in  L887  ai 
t  A  number  of  hunts  seen  to  have  occurred  mar  Brighatn  <  ity  and  elsewhere,  \\  hicta  are  neo 

omitted  here  in  the  absence  of  sufficient  data.    The  county  paid  bounties  on  12,758  rabbits  during  the 

years  1893,  L894,  and  L895     m  8  p.  43. 
;  Mr.  M.  Richards,  jr.,  of  Parowan  giv<  the  probable  cumber  of  rabbits  killed  in  this 

county  during  1894. 


62 


JACK    RABBITS    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 
Partial  lists  of  Babbit  Hunts  in  Utah — Continued. 


Locality. 

Date. 

Rabbits 
killed. 

Autbority. 

Millard  County. 
( Jorn  Crock 

Mar.  27, 1894 

Jan.—,  1893 

50-60 
1,800 
1,000 

1,000 

350 

2,762 

1,379 

656 

Marcus  E.  Jones,  Salt  Lake  City. 
James  A.  George,  Kanosh. 
Do. 

D° 

Sanpete  County . 

Jan.  (19?),  1894.... 

Dec.30,1894toJan. 
12, 1895. 

Dec.  14, 1894 

Dec.  3, 1893 

Nov.  29, 1894 

Dec.  8, 1894 

Wayne  County. 

Jobn  T.  Lazenby,  Loa. 

John  L.  May,  Salt  Lako  City. 
Do. 
Do. 

Do 

Do 

Total  (26  bunts) ' 

37,  215 

IDAHO. 

A  few  large  hunts  have  recently  occurred  in  southern  Idaho,  but 
greater  success  has  attended  the  introduction  of  the  rabbit  drive.  A 
novel  method  is  sometimes  employed  in  Fremont  County,  the  rabbits 
being  baited  by  spreading  a  line  of  hay  on  the  snow  or  on  the  ground, 
and  after  they  are  l  lined  up >  several  can  be  killed  at  a  single  shot. 

Mr.  T.  T.  Eutledge,  assistant  director  of  the  experiment  station  at 
Nam  pa,  Canyon  County,  reports  that  a  small  hunt  took  place  about 
September  1894,  near  that  place,  but  the  number  killed  is  unknown. 
In  the  winter  of  1894-95  about  2,600  jack  rabbits  were  killed  near  Idaho 
Falls,  Bingham  County,  and  shipped  to  Eustice,  Xebr.,  along  with  grain 
and  provisions  for  distribution  among  the  drought  sufferers  in  that 
State.    Another  smaller  hunt  also  occurred  at  Idaho  Falls  later  on. 

While  these  pages  are  passing  through  the  press,  reports  have  been 
received  indicating  that  rabbit  driving  is  being  successfully  carried 
on  in  the  southern  part  of  the  State.  At  Marion,  Cassia  County,  about 
5,000  rabbits  were  killed  in  a  drive  on  December  9,  1895.  It  was  esti- 
mated that  500  people  were  present  and  that  an  area  of  country  less 
than  3  miles  square  was  driven  over;  4,000  more  rabbits  were  killed  at 
the  same  place  during  the  following  week. 

Farther  east  two  smaller  drives  were  held  at  Market  Lake,  Fremont 
County.  In  this  case  no  corrals  were  built,  the  rabbits  being  simply 
driven  into  the  railroad  stock  yards  and  afterwards  shipped  to  Salt 
Lake  City  for  distribution  among  the  poor.  The  following  list  has  been 
brought  down  to  date  as  far  as  possible  and  includes  five  drives  which 
occurred  early  in  January,  1890 : 

Partial  List  of  Idaho  Rabbit  Drives  and  Hunts. 


Locality. 

Date. 

Rabbits 
killed. 

Authority. 

Bingham  Cotinty. 
Idaho  Falls 

Winter  1894- 

95. 
do 

2,600 

A.  V.  Scott,  Idaho  Falls. 

Do 

Do. 

Canyon  County. 
Nanipa 

Sept.— ,1894 

T.  T.  Rutledge,  Nampa. 

RABBIT    HUNTS    IN   COLORADO. 


G3 


Partial  List  of  Idaho  Rabbit  Drives  (Did  Hunts — Continued. 


Locality. 

Date. 

Rabbits 
killed. 

Ami  boritj 

Cassia  County. 

Dec.     7, 1895 
Dec.     9, 1895 
Dec,  14,1895 
Dec.  31,  1895 

Jan.     :;.  1896 
Jan.     4, 1896 

Feb.     1, 1895 
Feb.     7, 1895 
Feb.   it.  L895 
Feb,  20,1895 
Jan.     0  L896 
Dec.  80, 1895 
Jan.     4,1896 
Winter  1894- 

95. 
Jan.  11,1896 

5,000 

2,0nu 
2,  000 
1,200 
150 
1,600 

247 

.  450 

509 

739 

990 

1.044 

1,000 

2,000 

300 

1     \  TiJmaii  Marion 

Do  .    

1><>. 

Do                   

Do. 

Do 

Do. 

Do    ..             

Do. 

Do - 

D... 

Fremont  County. 

Do 

Da 

Do    .                

Do. 

Do                                     

Do. 

Ed  Ellsworth,  Lewitville. 

Do. 

Do 

Do. 

Riijbv 

E.  r.  Coltman,  Idaho  Falls. 

Ed  Ellsworth,  !.<■«  is\  [lie. 

*  Drives. 

t  Hunts  have  been  reported  from  Lewiaville  for  February  14  and  26  ( !),  1895,  which  arc  probably  the 
same  as  those  given  in  this  list.  Grant,  Lewiaville,  and  Rigby  are  all  within  a  i<w  miles  of  one 
another;  the  same  hunt  may  he  reported  from  different  places  and  thus  lead  to  confusion,  particularly 
if  no  dates  are  given. 

COLORADO. 

During  the  last  three  years  a  series  of  rabbit  bunts  have  taken 
place  in  eastern  Colorado,  resulting  in  the  destruction  of  nearly  29, 000 
rabbits.  As  is  the  case  with  the  hunts  in  Utah,  no  inclosures  are  built 
and  shotguns  are  the  only  weapons  used.  The  hunters  are  usually  dis- 
tributed over  the  ranches  in  the  neighborhood  and  hunt  singly  or  in 
small  parties.  The  success  of  these  hunts  has  led  to  the  celebration 
each  winter  of  a  * Rabbit  Day/  which  is  set  apart  for  the  destruction 
of  the  pests.  In  reply  to  an  inquiry  concerning  the  origin  of  the  ens 
torn  at  Lainar,  Mr.  J.  T.  Lawless,  editor  of  the  Lamar  Sparks,  wrote  on 
March  4,  1895: 

This  portion  of  Colorado  was  first  settled  in  1886,  and  in  1889  farming  by  irrigation 
was  begun  on  an  extensive  scale.  The  territory  under  d.^ch  is  about  18  miles  \\  hie. 
North  and  south  of  this  strip  of  irrigated  land  there  is  little  vegetation,  and  the  land 
is  valuable  chiefly  as  a  stock  range.  After  the  first  year  of  fanning  by  irrigation, 
rabbits  increased  rapidly,  and  the  farmers  were  greatly  annoyed.  The  rabbits  oame 
from  the  rainbelt  region  for  miles  around  and  made  their  headquarters  in  the  alfalfa 
and  grain  fields  and  the  growing  orchards  of  Prowers  County  .  The  great 

increase  in  the  number  of  rabbits  caused  much  concern,  and  finally  a  1  •  i «j.  hunt  was 
arranged  to  reduce  their  numbers.  This  hunt  was  confined  to  people  <>f  Lamar  and 
the  county.  About  fifty-live  men  participated,  and  they  killed  over  1,200  rabbits  in 
one  day.  The  following  winter  another  hunt  was  arranged  on  similar  lines,  and  tin- 
same  number  of  men  brought  inabonl  2,000 rabbits.  This  hunt  was  followed  by  tin- 
first  annual  hunt,  in  which  gunners  from  all  parts  of  the  State  participated.  That 
was  the  inauguration  of  Rabbit  Day.  Over  4,000  rabbits  were  killed,  and  these  were 
drawn  and  shipped  to  Denver  and  Pueblo  for  distribution  among  the  poor,  to  W  horn 
the  meat  was  very  acceptable. 

One  of  the  largest  and  most  successful  hunts  was  that  of  December 
22,  1894,  in  which  101  gunners  took  part  and  secured  5,1  L2  rabbits  as 
the  result  of  a  day  and  a  half  of  steady  work  |  sec  Plate  VI).  When 
dressed,  these  jack  rabbits  usually  average  about  6)  pounds  each,  and 


64 


JACK   RABBITS    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


it  was  estimated  that  the  game  obtained  in  this  hunt  weighed  nearly  5 
tons.  The  annual  hunt  on  December  19-20,  1895.  was  less  successful, 
owing  to  a  severe  storm  and  deep  snow;  only  about  1,600  rabbits  were 
killed. 

A  unique  feature  of  the  Colorado  hunts  is  the  disposition  of  the  game, 
which  is  distributed  among  the  poor  of  Denver  and  Pueblo.  The  rab- 
bits are  transported  free  of  charge  by  the  railroads  and  distributed 
mainly  under  the  direction  of  Eev.  Thos.  A.  Uzzell,  of  Denver.  This 
charitable  work  was  begun  about  four  years  ago,  and  250  jack  rabbits 
were  received  the  first  winter;  last  season  4,500  were  distributed  in 
Denver  alone,  and  it  is  said  that  over  5,000  have  been  given  away  each 
season  for  the  last  three  years.  In  fact  the  success  of  the  hunts  at 
Lamar  in  December,  1893,  January  and  December,  1891,  was  largely 
due  to  the  efforts  of  Eev.  Thos.  A.  Uzzell,  who  arranged  for  the  ship- 
ment and  distribution  of  the  rabbits. 

List  of  Colorado  Rabbit  Hunts.* 


Locality. 


Brush,  Morgan  County.. 

Lamar,  Prowers  County. 

Do ".. 


Dec.  28,1894 
Jan.  6,1893 
Dec,  22,1893 
Jan.  —,1894 
Jan.     12-13, 

1894. 
Nov.     25-26, 

1894. 
Dec.  22.  1894 
Dec.     19-20, 
1895. 

Las  Animas,  Bent  County Feb.  22, 1893 

Do |Feb.  22,1894 

Do Feb.6-7,1895 


Do 
Do 


Do 


Do 
Do 


Date. 


Babbits 
killed. 


Total  (11  bunts) . 


Authority. 


Lamar  Sparks,  Jan.  3, 1895. 
A.  Van  Deusen,  Lamar. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 
Lamar  Sparks,  Dec.  26. 1895. 

M.  R.  McCaulev,  Las  Animas. 

Do. 
Jacob  Weil  and  M.  R.  MeCauley. 


28, 666 


*  For  descriptions  of  the  hunts  of  December,  1893,  and  January,  1894,  see  Shooting  and  Fishing,  Vol. 
XV,  January  4,  1894,  p.  221,  February  1,  1894,  p.  303,  and  American  Field,  Vol.  XLI,  March  10.  1894, 
p.  222.    For  annual  hunt  of  Dec.  19-20, 1895,  see  Shooting  and  Fishing,  Vol.  XIX.  Jan.  2. 1896,  p.  225. 


SUMMARY. 

A  comparison  of  the  foregoing  tables  will  show  that  California  has 
accomplished  much  more  in  the  way  of  rabbit  destruction  than  Colo- 
rado, Idaho,  Oregon,  or  Utah,  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  hunts  have 
been  held  in  Utah  for  nearly  half  a  century.  Babbit  driving  is  now  on 
the  decline  in  California,  but  the  number  of  hunts  is  rapidly  increas- 
ing in  the  other  States.     The  results  may  be  tabulated  as  follows: 

General  Summary  of  220  Jack  Rabbit  Drives  and  Hunts  in  the  West. 


California. 
1875-1895. 

Oregon, 
1894-95. 

Utah, 
1849-1895. 

Idaho. 
1894-96. 

Colorado, 
1893-95. 

Total. 

*155 

370, 195 

2,387 

20, 000 

*12 

12, 202 

1,016 

2,000 

J  26 

37,  215 

1,431 

5,500 

+  16 
21,829 

1,364 
5,000 

til 

28,  666 

2,606 

6,  500 

220 

Total  number  rabbits  killed 

Average  number  per  drive 

470, 107 
2,137 

Drives. 


t  Hunts. 


Both  drives  and  hunts. 


OHAPTEB  VI. 

VALUE    OF    THE    JACK    RABBIT. 

The  question  may  well  be  asked  whether  the  jack  rabbit  has  any 
value  or  can  be  utilized  in  anyway.  In  ls!)o  the  Royal  Commission  of 
New  South  Wales  suggested  that  *k  rabbits  may  be  used  for  food,  either 
fresh,  frozen,  canned,  jerked,  or  as  sou]):  for  their  skins  and  fur  In  the 
manufacture  of  gloves  and  felt;  for  extracting  glue  and  oil;  and  for 
reduction  to  manure."1  Nevertheless  they  discouraged  the  principle 
of  commercial  utilization  on  the  ground  that  it  would  lead  to  the  pres- 
ervation of  the  rabbits  instead  of  their  destruction.  Bui  after  many 
experiments  with  poisons,  diseases,  traps,  and  other  methods  of  destruc- 
tion, and  an  outlay  of  millions  of  dollars  for  fences,  tliis  very  method 
has  recently  been  advocated  as  the  most  promising, by  the  Hon.  J.  II. 
Carruthers,  Minister  for  Lands  in  New  South  Wales.  In  his  opening 
address  to  the  rabbit  conference,  held  at  Sydney  on  April  2,  L895,  In- 
said  : 

One  feature  of  the  rabbit  question  has  not.  it  is  thought,  received  sufficient  atten- 
tion at  the  hands  of  the  sufferers  in  this  colony,  and  that  is  tin-  commercial  utilization 
of  the  animal.  In  the  past  suggestions  of  this  character  have  met  with  condem- 
nation on  the  ground  that  it  would  lead  to  the  conservation  of  the  rabbit,  but  it 
would  appear  that  the  time  for  such  argument  has  disappeared.  Experience  in  the 
past  leads  to  the  belief  that  the  rabbit  is  a  fixture;,  and  there  should  be  n<>  reason 
why  persons  resident  in  localities  suitable  for  the  purpose  should  m>r  seriously  con- 
sider why  the  animal  should  not  be  made  to  contribute  to  tin;  cost  of  its  own 
destruction.  It  is,  of  course,  apparent  that  operations  of  this  character  would  only 
be  possible  over  a  limited  area  of  the  infested  country:  but  with  the  easy  means  of 
reaching  foreign  markets,  it  is  worthy  of  consideration  whether  the  carcass  of  tin- 
rabbit  may  not  be  used  as  an  article  of  food,  either  frozen  or  canned,  and  whether  the 
skins  and  far  may  not  be  profitably  applied  in  the  manufacture  of  gloves  and  felt.5 

In  this  country,  however,  the  larger  hares  have  been  \\>n\  in  only  a 
few  of  the  ways  suggested  by  tin.'  Royal  Commission  of  New  South 
Wales,  viz,  (1)  for  sport,  especially  in  coursing.  (2)  for  their  skins,  and 
(3)  for  food. 

The  pursuit  of  the  jack  rabbit  furnishes  excellent  spoil  with  the 
shotgun  or  rifle  as  well  as  to  the  mounted  rider  eager  for  a  trial  of 
speed  with  hounds.  It  is  often  a  difficult  matter  to  gel  a  shot  it*  the 
rabbit  happens  to  be  somewhat  wary,  but  on  the  other  hand,  if  the 
game  is  abundant  and  not  too  shy.  large  numbers  may  be  readily  killed. 


1  Final  Rept.  Royal  Com.  Inquiry  Exterm.  Rabbits,  Australasia,  L890,  p.  I. 
-Kept.  Proceedings  Conference  Rabbit  Pest.  New  South  Wales, Sydney,  1896,  p.  7 
8615- -No.  8 5 


GO  JACK    RABBITS    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 

In  one  of  the  large  Colorado  hunts,  which  are  conducted  mainly  for 
sport,  two  men  shooting  together  at  Lamar,  in  December  1894,  secured 
412  rabbits  in  two  days.  For  the  rifle,  a  jack  rabbit  on  the  run  makes 
a  line  target,  and  one  requiring  skill  and  steadiness  to  hit.  Hunting  on 
horseback  with  shotguns  is  considered  much  more  exciting  than  on 
foot  and  requires  considerable  skill  in  riding  as  well  as  in  shooting. 
Hunting  the  jack  rabbit  with  hounds,  however,  is  a  form  of  sport  which 
seems  to  be  increasing  in  popular  favor,  notwithstanding  the  fact  that 
it  is  considered  cruel  by  some. 

COURSING. 

The  adaptability  of  the  large  hares  for  coursing  has  long  been  recog- 
nized. They  are  certainly  superior  in  speed  to  any  of  the  smaller 
rabbits,  but  whether  they  are  better  than  the  Old  World  Hare  is  still 
an  open  question.  Thus  far  the  evidence  seems  to  be  in  favor  of  the 
jack.     Says  Van  Dyke1  in  speaking  of  coursing  in  California: 

A  dash  after  the  hare  on  a  good  horse  and  behind  good  dogs  is  one  of  the  most 
charming  of  outings.  The  horse  enjoys  the  sport  as  well  as  the  dogs  do,  and  tries 
his  best  to  outrun  the  procession.  The  ground  flies  beneath  you,  the  surrounding 
mountains  swim  in  a  haze,  the  whole  amphitheater  seems  to  turn  around  while 
you  are  standing  still.  Vainly  the  hare  twists  and  sends  the  dogs  spinning  ahead 
in  confusion,  while  he  scuds  away  on  his  new  tack  without  the  loss  of  an  instant, 
so  far  as  you  can  see.  All  ordinary  dogs  fall  out  of  the  race.  Even  the  wiry  and 
swift  coyote,  though  he  loves  hare  more  than  anything  else,  rarely  if  ever  feels 
hungry  enough  for  a  stern  chase.  But  if  the  greyhounds  are  good  and  tlie  brush 
not  too  near,  the  hare's  doubling  only  postpones  his  end,  however  untiring  his  foot, 
or  frequent  his  twists.  Vainly  he  lays  his  ears  flatter  upon  his  neck  and  lets  out 
another  link  of  his  reserved  speed.  Before  he  has  made  many  turns  he  is  caught — 
perhaps  in  mid-air — and  the  dogs  and  hare  go  rolling  over  in  a  heap  together. 

Coursing  began  in  California  in  the  early  sixties,  and  has  since  been 
carried  on  with  more  or  less  spirit  by  various  clubs.  About  twenty 
years  ago  the  old  Los  Angeles  Coursing  Club  used  to  follow  the  jack 
rabbits  with  greyhounds  on  the  mesa  near  Pasadena,  and  women  as 
well  as  men  took  part  in  the  sport.2  In  1872  the  Pioneer  Coursing 
Club  of  San  Francisco  held  the  first  of  a  series  of  meetings  at  Merced. 
Since  1890  the  meetings  of  the  Interstate  Coursing  Club  have  been  held 
at  this  place,  which  has  become  one  of  the  principal  coursing  centers 
on  the  Pacific  Coast.  Other  meetings  have  been  held  at  Newark,  San 
Prancisco,  and  near  Los  Angeles. 

The  American  Coursing  Club  was  the  first  club  east  of  the  Pocky 
Mountains  to  use  jack  rabbits,  and  in  October,  1886,  inaugurated  a 
series  of  annual  meetings  which  were  continued  up  to  1892  on  the 
Cheyenne  bottoms,  near  Great  Bend,  Kans.  In  1894  and  1895  the  club 
met  at  Huron,  S.  Dak.  The  National  Coursing  Association,  of  Hutch- 
inson, Kans.,  was  organized  in  1888,  with  a  capital  stock  of  $50,000,  and 


lThe  Land  of  Sunshine,  Los  Angeles,  Cal.,  Ill,  Aug.  1895,  pp.  116-117. 
2  Forest  and  Stream,  XXVIII,  Jan.  27,  1887,  p.  3. 


COURSING.  67 

flourished  for  two  or  three  years.  Its  object  was  to  develop  coursing 
in  the  United  States,  by  breeding  rabbits  on  their  own  soil  and 
shipping  them  to  various  parts  of  theconntryin  order  thai  meetings 
might  be  held  in  the  large  cities  and  a  more  general  interest  aroused.1 

The  association  had  '>¥20  acres  at  Hutchinson  inclosed  with  a  wire  mesh 
fence,  and  imported  jack  rabbits  from  California,  New  .Mexico,  and 
Wyoming  and  turned  them  loose  in  this  park  where  in  a  few  months 

a  large  number  were  collected.  -Inclosed  coursing,'  i.  e.  running  the 
rabbits  in  an  inclosure  instead  of  on  the  open  plain,  was  introduced  at 
the  meeting-,  held  on  October  23,  1888,  A  track  half  a  mile  long  and  75 
yards  wide  was  arranged  inside  the  park.  The  rabbits  were  started  at 
one  end  of  the  track  and  at  the  other  were  allowed  to  escape  from  the 
hounds,  through  small  openings,  into  a  pen,  where  they  were  caught 
for  use  in  another  race.-  The  National  Coursing  Association  held 
meetings  in  1889  at  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  and  Louisville,  K\\.  and  fifty  jack 
rabbits  were  shipped  from  the  park  at  Hutchinson  to  be  used  in  the 
latter  meeting.  In  181)0  it  held  a  series  of  meetings  at  St.  Louis,  Kan- 
sas Oily,  and  St.  Joseph,  Mo.;  Colorado  Springs  and  Denver,  Colo.; 
Omaha  and  Lincoln,  Xebr.,  and  Council  Bluffs,  Iowa. 

Coursing  has  received  a  wonderful  impetus  in  the  West  during  tin- 
last  ten  years  largely  through  the  work  of  these  two  clubs,  the  Inter- 
state Coursing  Club  of  Merced,  Cab,  and  the  Occidental  Club  of 
Newark,  Oal.  Since  1890  numerous  local  clubs  have  been  organized  in 
Montana,  South  Dakota,  Nebraska,  Kansas,  Texas,  Colorado,  and 
southern  California,  and  no  small  number  of  rabbits  are  required 
annually  for  these  meetings. 

The  demand  for  rabbits  for  this  sport  seems  to  have  been  largely 
instrumental  in  bringing  about  the  rabbit  drives  in  California,  and  as 
many  as  a  thousand  or  more  have  been  obtained  in  one  of  the  large 
drives.  Nearly  all  the  rabbits  for  coursing  in  this  State  come  from 
the  San  Joaquin  Valley.  Some  of  them  are  caught  near  Goshen,  where 
they  are  shipped  in  coops,  containing  24  single  stalls  arranged  in  two 
rows.  From  50  to  100  are  sometimes  required  for  a  single  meeting,  and 
the  wholesale  price  varies  from  $5.50  to  $9  per  dozen. 

At  Wichita,  Kans.,  and  Merced,  Oal.,  several  persons  regularly  trap 
rabbits  for  coursing.  At  Wichita,  Mr.  ('has.  Payne  captures  jack  rab- 
bits by  means  of  a  net  about  a  mile  in  length,  made  of  common  cotton 
seine  twine,  which  is  stretched  straight  across  a  field.  On  one  side  are 
attached  short  nets  at  an  angle  with  the  main  net.  formings  number  of 
Vs.  The  rabbits  are  driven  toward  the  trap  by  <i  to  L0  men  on  horse- 
back, and  10  to  -0  rabbits  are  considered  a  good  catch  for  one  day. 
Shipping  boxes  are  so  arranged  that  each  animal  is  in  a  separate  com- 
partment, and  the  largest  hold  about  a  dozen  rabbits.     >•  me  of  these 

'Am.  Field,  XXX.  Nov.  24,  1888,  p.  ",04. 

2  See  illustrated  article  on  "Jack  Babbits  and  Inclosed  Coursing,'*  by  M.  E. 
Allison,  in  Am.  Field,  XXXIII.  Apr.  26,  1890,  pp.  395-396. 


68  JACK    RABBITS    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 

jack  rabbits  bring  $2  apiece,  and  they  have  been  shipped  to  various 
X>oints  in  the  United  States  and  Canada,  and  even  to  England.  Last 
winter  (1894-95),  between  200  and  300  were  furnished  to  the  St.  Louis 
Coursing  Association  alone. 

SKINS. 

Babbit  skins  are  used  in  greater  quantities  than  those  of  any  other 
animals  except  the  true  fur-bearing  mammals.  At  present  skins  of 
jack  rabbits  have  little  commercial  value,  and  no  attempt  appears  to 
be  made  to  utilize  them  on  a  large  scale.  It  seems  strange  that  where 
the  animals  are  slaughtered  in  such  numbers  the  skins  are  not  made 
to  yield  a  fair  profit,  as  is  done  with  those  of  other  species.  Their  use 
for  fur  seems  to  be  restricted  mainly  to  the  Indians. 

The  Piutes  and  other  tribes  of  the  Great  Basin  formerly  relied  to  a 
considerable  extent  on  the  rabbit  for  furnishing  their  scanty  supply  of 
clothing,  and  in  Idaho,  Nevada,  and  Utah  killed  large  numbers  of 
jack  rabbits  for  this  purpose. 

Says  Bancroft  in  speaking  of  the  Indians  of  this  region :  "  On  the 
barren  plains  of  Nevada,  where  there  is  no  large  game,  the  rabbit  fur- 
nishes the  only  clothing.  The  skins  are  sewn  together  in  the  form  of  a 
cloak,  which  is  thrown  over  the  shoulders,  or  tied  about  the  body  with 
thongs  of  the  same.  In  warm  weather,  or  when  they  can  not  obtain 
rabbit  skins,  men,  women,  and  children  are,  for  the  most  part,  in  a  state 
of  nudity."     (Native  Eaces  of  the  Pacific  States,  I,  1874,  pp.  423-424.) 

Mr.  Vernon  Bailey,  chief  field  naturalist  of  the  division,  who  has 
traveled  extensively  in  this  region  and  seen  the  robes  in  use  among 
the  Indians,  has  kindly  contributed  the  following  notes : 

A  good  robe  serves  an  Indian  both  for  clothing  and  for  bedding.  It  is  exceed- 
ingly light,  soft,  and  warm,  and  is  easily  carried  in  a  small  roll  on  the  horse  or  in 
the  pack  when  not  in  use.  A  Piute  with  an  old  shirt,  a  pair  of  breeches,  moccasins, 
and  one  of  these  robes  is  well  equipped  for  traveling,  even  in  cold  weather.  In  the 
wickiup  the  robe  is  thrown  down  and  serves  as  a  seat  during  the  day  and  for  a  bed 
at  night. 

Robes  of  jack  rabbit  skins  are  common  articles  of  clothing  among  the  Piute  and 
Mohave  Indians.  I  have  seen  them  among  the  Pyramid  Lake  Indians,  the  Piutes  in 
Reese  River  Valley,  Nevada,  and  the  Mohaves  at  Fort  Mohave,  Ariz.  They  are  usually 
6  or  7  feet  square,  large  enough  to  wrap  around  the  body  and  entirely  cover  the 
person.  They  are  made  of  twisted  strips  of  jack  rabbit  skins  laid  parallel  close 
together  and  fastened  at  short  intervals  with  strings.  The  skins,  apparently,  are 
not  tanned,  but  the  robes  are  as  soft  and  pliable  as  a  blanket,  and  by  twisting  the 
strips  the  fur  is  thrown  on  both  sides.  These  robes  are  generally  valued  at  $6  to  $8> 
but  the  Indians  seem  reluctant  to  part  with  them.  One  old  Mohave  upon  being 
askod  to  sell  his  robe,  refused,  saying:  "Me  no  make  'em.  Hualapai  make  'em,  me 
buy  'em." 

Jack  rabbits  were  doubtless  used  also  by  the  Indians  of  California, 
although  to  a  less  extent.  The  Mi  wok,  a  tribe  whose  territorry 
extended  from  the  crest  of  the  Sierra  Nevada  to  the  San  Joaquin 
River,  and  from  the  Oosumnes  to  the  Fresno  in  a  part  of  the  San  Joa- 


USES    OF    RABBIT    SKINS.  69 

quin  Valley  where  the  jack  rabbit  is  now  extremely  abundant,  need 
rabbit  skins  for  making  robes.  They  cu1  the  skins  Into  narrow  strips, 
and  after  drying  them  in  the  sun,  laid  them  close  together  and  made  a 
rude  warp,  by  tying  or  sewiug  strings  across  ;it  intervals  of  a  few 
inches.1 

In  order  to  show  some  of  the  uses  to  which  jack  rabbit  skins might  be 
put,  it  will  be  necessary  to  rci<-r  briefly  to  the  general  trade  in  rabbit 
skius  and  some  of  the  ways  in  which  the  lower  grades  are  utilized. 
The  annual  collection  of  English  rabbit  skins  is  about  30,000,000,  and 
50,000  to  80,000  dozen  (600,000  to  000,000)  are  imported  from  Prance  and 
Belgium.  These  skins  are  dyed  and  sold  for  fur  to  be  used  for  cups. 
boas,  muffs,  and  trimmings  of  various  kinds,  and  are  used  for  felting, 
especially  iu  the  manufacture  of  hats.  Skins  for  felting  are  cut  open. 
washed,  and  the  long  hairs  pulled  out  with  wooden  knives;  the  far  is 
then  cut  off  by  machinery,  sorted,  and  blown  by  air.  The  far  from 
different  parts  of  the  body  is  separated  and  sold  at  different  prices. 
The  best  Coney  back  wool  used  in  the  manufacture  of  felt  hats  brings 
from  5s.  to  7s.  Od.  per  pound. - 

In  the  United  States  skins  of  native  rabbits  are  used  for  far,  if  at 
all,  only  for  trimmings,  as  the  hair  is  too  brittle  and  they  have  very 
little  underfill1.  Large  numbers,  however,  are  used  for  felt  in  the 
manufacture  of  hats.  It  is  estimated  by  one  of  the  leading  farriers  in 
New  York  that  1,500,000  native  skins  are  collected  annually  in  this 
country.  In  addition  to  these,  rabbit  skins  are  imported,  not  only 
from  Great  Britain  and  the  continent  of  Europe,  but  even  from  Aus- 
tralia. Xative  skins  are  mainly  those  of  the  cottontail  (Lepus  sylvat- 
icus).  and  the  supply  is  derived  largely  from  Maryland,  Virginia,  and 
North  Carolina.  They  are  assorted  into  three  grades,  'primes,'  •sec- 
onds,'and  'culls.'  Prime  skins  are  those  of  full-grown  animals  with 
bright  pelts;  'seconds,' of  half  grown  animals;  while  the  torn  or  imper- 
fect pelts  are  classed  as  'culls.'  The  prices  range  from  1  .J  up  to  4 
cents  apiece,  averaging  during  1895  about  1J  to  2  or  2j  cents  for  the 
best  skins.  Imported  skins  are  considered  superior  to  those  of  "cot- 
tontails," averaging  in  value  about  3.J  cents  each,  although  the  best 
French  rabbit  skins  are  worth  5  cents.  One  of  the  New  York  dealers 
reports  that  skins  of  the  native  hare,  probably  the  Varying  Hare 
(Lepus  americanus),  are  worth  0  cents  each,  but  that  very  few  are 
received  in  a  season.  England,  however,  in  1891  received  36,286  skins 
of  the  American  Varying  Hare  from  the  Hudson  Bay  Company,  and 
50,000  from  other  traders.  It  may  be  stated  here  that  the  Hudson 
Bay  Company  has  been  shipping  rabbit  skins  to  England  tor  more  than 
one  hundred  years.  Most  of  these  are  skins  of  Lepus  emerioanue,  and 
according  to  Poland3  the  total  number  exported  between  1788  and  181  0 


•Powers,  Tribes  of  California.  Cont.  X.  Am.  Ethnology,   Vol.  III.  L877,  p.  161. 
'Poland,  Fnr -bearing  Animals,  London.  L892,  p.  281  el  seq. 

3Loc.  cit.,  pp.  xxiii-xxvii,  l'TG-l'TT. 


70 


JACK    RABBITS    OP    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


was  3,333,933,  or  an  average  of  39,750  for  the  eighty-four  years  for 
which  statistics  are  available. 

Babbit  skins  have  formed  a  large  item  of  export  from  Australasia, 
chiefly  from  the  colonies  of  New  Zealand,  Tasmania,  and  Victoria,  for 
nearly  twenty  years.  In  Victoria  the  number  exported  increased  nearly 
fifteenfold  from  1876  to  1893,  when  it  reached  10,374,154.  Shipments 
from  New  Zealand  were  trebled  between  1879  and  1893,  reaching  in 
the  latter  year  over  17,000,000,  valued  at  about  £140,000  or  nearly 
$700,000.  The  following  table  shows  the  number  of  skins  exported 
from  Australasia  so  far  as  figures  are  available: 

Export  of  Eabbit  Skins  from  Australia,  New  Zealand,  and  Tasmania.* 


New  Zealand. 

Tasmania. 

Victoria. 

S.  Australia. 

Year. 

Number  of 
skins. 

Value. 

Number  of 
skins. 

Value. 

Number  of 
skins. 

Value. 

Pack- 
ages 

slims. 

Value. 

1873 

136,716 
56,  504 
111, 142 
311,  632 
918,  236 
636,  409 
5,  384,  506 

7,  505,  616 

8,  514,  685 
9, 198, 837 

9,  891,  805 
9,  807,  665 
9, 168, 114 
8,  546,  254 

12,  743,  452 
11,  809,  407 
11,342,778 
12, 543,  293 

14,  302,  233 

15,  899,  787 
17,  041, 106 
14,  267,  385 

£1,  263 

1,878 

3,913 

4,418 

8,630 

33,  460 

46.  799 

66,  976 

84,  774 

88, 725 

100,  955 

107, 514 

85, 754 

65,  694 

111,  172 

91,  908 

96,  039 

111,  880 

126,  251 

121,  775 

138, 952 

87,  993 

1874 

1875 

1876 

724, 985 
700,  565 
711,  844 

1,  036,  372 

3,  309,  408 

4,  473, 108 
4,  929,  432 
4, 245,  596 
4,  963,  371 
3,424,259 

910.  609 

2,  663.  314 

3,  967,  533 

3,  429,  015 

4,  913,  351 

6,  359,  210 

7,  501,  864 
*10,  374, 154 

£6,  711 

5,790 

6.206 

7,322 

21,  674 

32,217 

37,  538 

30.  364 

37,  243 

23,  548 

6.800 

16, 294 

20, 759 

12,  303 

25,  667 

31. 367 

3i;  905 

55,  039 

1877 

1878 

1879 

1880         

1881          

1882  . .  

1,881,040 
1,  735,  856 

1,  730,  628 

2,  872,  896 
1, 184,  862 
2, 181,  068 
1,961,576 
1, 819,  547 

2,  991.  316 

3,  241,  351 
3, 180, 104 
3,  590,  474 
3,  541,  464 

£15,  699 
20, 367 
14,  537 

22,  572 
7,400 

17,  555 
12,  661 
11, 369 
24, 362 
19,  571 
17, 097 

23,  278 
16, 194 

1883     .           

1884     

1885 

86 
35 
398 
725 
208 
594 
613 
49C 
419 
980 

£883 

1886 

602 

1887 

7,534 

1888 

9,578 

1889 

3,081 

1890     

11,  320 

1891  

9.239 

1892           

8,790 

1893  

6,958 

1894 

10, 973 

Total  J . . . . 

180,  037,  562 

1,  586,  723 

31, 912, 182 

222, 562 

68,  637,  990 

408,  747 

4.554 

68,  958 

The  importation  of  Australian  rabbit  skins  in  London,  as  shown  by 
reports  of  sales,  aggregated  8,210  bales  in  1890-91,  and  from  July, 
1894,  to  July,  1895,  amounted  to  13,140  bales,  each  averaging  about 
400  pounds  and  containing  about  4,000  skins.  The  total  number  in 
1894-95  was,  therefore,  about  52,500,000  skins,  valued  (at  $70  per  bale) 
at  nearly  $1,000,000. 

It  should  be  noticed  that  no  less  than  one-third  of  the  Australian 
skins  sent  to  London  are  said  to  be  exported  to  New  York.  There 
are  now  20  cutters  of  hatter's  fur  in  America,  employing  about  160 
machines.     Each  machine  will  cut  on  an  average  1,200  skins  a  day, 


"Compiled  from  Statistics  Colony  New  Zealand,  1881-1890:  New  Zealand  Year  Books,  1891-1895; 
Statistics  Colony  Tasmania,  1882-1894;  Victorian  Year  Book.  1893,  II.  p.  262, 1894.  I,  p.  437;  Statistical 
Register  South  Australia,  1885-1894. 

1Tlie  returns  from  New  Zealand  for  1873-1880  are  taken  from  IT.  S.  Consular  Repts.,VI.  1882,  p.  122. 
The  values  arc  only  approximate,  being  reduced  from  dollars  at  the  rate  of  £1  — $5 — the  rate  appar- 
ently used  in  obtaining  the  value  for  1881  in  the  Consular  Report.  Returns  for  1891-1894 are  taken 
from  the  Year  Books  under  reports  of  export  of  wool. 

The  total  exports  from  Australasia  can  not  be  obtained  from  these  figures  as  some  of  the  skins 
from  New  Zealand  and  Tasmania  were  shipped  to  other  OOlonies,  particularly  Victoria,  and  such  skins 
ni;i\  have  been  reexported  ;  e.  g.,  the  direct  exports  from  Tasmania  to  Europe  from  1886  to  1892  formed 
a  v  i  \  small  percentage  ot  the  total  exports,  the  bulk  of  the  skins  being  shipped  to  Victoria. 


JACK    RABBITS    AS    GAME.  71 

producing  75  pounds  of  cut  fur.  If  all  the  machines  weir  kept  run- 
ning for  two  hundred  and  fifty  days  per  annum  they  would  require 

48,000,000  rabbit  and  hare  skins.  The  output  of  fur  would  be  about 
3,000,000  pounds,  which,  valued  ;it  85  cents  per  pound,  would  give  a 
total  of  $2,550,000;  deducting  $000,000  for  cost  of  cutting,  estimated 
at  20  cents  per  pound  of  fur,  the  value  would  be  $1,950,000.' 

Jack  rabbit  skins  apparently  have  not  been  utilized  to  any  great 
extent,  but  if  they  can  not  compete  with  the  besl  Dative  or  foreign 
skins  in  quality,  they  certainly  can  be  used  lor  many  purposes  for 
which  skins  of  inferior  grades  are  employed.  In  addition  to  being 
utilized  for  fur  and  felt,  rabbit  skins  are  used  tor  making  gelatine, 
jujube,  sizing,  and  glue,  and  in  Spain  it  is  said  that  tin-  hair  is  some- 
times used  in  place  of  down.  For  these  purposes  skins  of  jack  rabbits 
ought  to  be  as  good  as  any.  If  skins  can  be  shipped  from  Australia  to 
the  United  States  by  way  of  London  and  then  sold  at  a  profit  tm  :; 
cents  apiece,  there  ought  to  be  a  large  market  for  native  skins.  Jack 
rabbit  skins  can  be  collected  with  such  facility  in  the  West  that  they 
could  probably  be  sold  at  a  lower  price  than  those  of  the  cottontail  or 
any  imported  skins  of  the  same  grade  and  still  allow  a  margin  of  profit 

JACK   RABBITS  AS   GAME. 

Between  the  months  of  October  and  March,  jack  rabbits  are  sold  in 
considerable  quantities  in  the  larger  cities  of  the  United  States  from 
San  Francisco  to  Boston,  and  from  St.  Paul  to  New  Orleans.  Both  the 
Prairie  Hare  and  the  Blacktailed  Jack  Kabbit  are  shipped  to  Eastern 
markets,  but  in  California  the  Texan  Hare  and  the  California  Jack 
Rabbit  are  the  only  ones, commonly  sold.  The  business  of  handling 
this  game  is  larger  than  is  generally  supposed,  and  while  by  no  means 
equal  to  the  trade  in  cottontails,  is  capable  of  being  developed  into 
an  important  industry  to  the  mutual  benefit  of  the  consumer  and  of  the 
farmer  who  suffers  from  the  depredations  of  the  rabbits. 

PARASITES. 

Many  persons  have  a  prejudice  against  eating  jack  rabbits  because 
the  animals  are  infested  at  certain  seasons  with  parasites,  or  because 
the  tlesh  is  supposed  to  be  'strong.'  This  prejudice,  however,  is 
entirely  unfounded.  The  parasites  of  the  rabbit  are  not  injurious  to 
man;  furthermore,  the  ticks  and  warbles  occur  at  a  season  when  the 
rabbits  should  not  be  killed  for  game,  while  the  tapeworm  can  only 
develop  in  certain  of  the  lower  animals,  e.  g„  in  the  dog  or  the 
coyote.  The  most  important  parasites  of  the  jack  rabbit  are  ticks 
(Ixodes)  and  larva?  of  a  fly  (Cutercbra)  and  of  a  tapeworm  Taenia  . 
Ticks  are  especially  troublesome  during  the  summer  and  may  sometimes 
be  found  clustered  about  the  ears  in  great  numbers.     A  large  fly  of 


^bese  figures  have  been  kindly  furnished  by  Meean.  J.  J'.  McGoveni  a   Bro.j 

importers  and  far  brokers,  of  New  York. 


72  JACK    RABBITS    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 

the  genus  Cuterebra  attacks  these  hares  as  it  does  deer,  squirrels,  and 
wood  rats,  and  punctures  the  skin  in  order  to  find  a  suitable  place  to 
lay  its  eggs.  The  egg  hatches  soon  after  being  deposited,  and  the 
parasitic  larva,  becoming  incased  in  a  capsule  immediately  beneath  the 
skin  of  its  host,  forms  a  lump  sometimes  an  inch  or  more  in  length, 
which  is  usually  known  as  a  i  warble.'  These  warbles  are  most  often 
seen  in  July  or  August.  The  larva  emerges  from  its  case  in  due  time 
as  a  perfect  insect,  and  the  wound  heals,  leaving  little  or  no  scar.  On 
some  of  the  rabbits  brought  to  market  large  l  water  blisters'  or  'boils' 
are  occasionally  found,  which  are  the  larvae  of  a  tapeworm  (Tcenia 
scrialis).  This  larva  is  called  Ccenurns  serialise  and  has  been  found 
in  the  California  Jack  Rabbit  (Lepus  calif ornicus),  the  Prairie  Hare 
(L.  campestris),  the  Old  World  Hare  (L.  timidus)  and  rabbit  (L.  cu- 
nicidus),  the  coypu  of  South  America  (Myopotamus  coypu),  a  species  of 
squirrel  (Sciurus),  and  in  the  horse.2  Ccenurus  does  not  develop  into 
the  adult  tapeworm  in  any  of  these  animals;  but  in  the  dog,  and  in 
the  coyote,  which  eats  many  rabbits,  it  reaches  the  adult  stage. 

It  is  sometimes  said  that  trichinosis  may  result  from  eating  jack  rab- 
bits, and  such  reports  are  occasionally  circulated  by  the  press.  The 
State  board  of  health  of  Iowa  recently  published  a  report  on  trichi- 
nosis, in  which  it  referred  to  the  source  of  the  disease  iu  the  following 
terms,  implying  that  there  was  danger  of  infection  from  rabbits:  "In 
all  cases  known  the  hog  has  been  the  source  of  the  disease  in  human 
beings,  so  it  maybe  said  of  nearly,  if  not  all  cases,  that  they  are  caused 
by  eating  trichinosed  pork,  although  the  rabbit  and  the  hare  are  con- 
sidered not  behind  the  hog  in  susceptibility  to  trichinosis.  Hogs 
become  infected  mostly  from  rats,  and  rabbits  and  hares  become  mouse 
hunters  in  winter."     (Seventh  Biennial  Report,  1893,  p.  80.) 

Hares  and  rabbits  rarely  if  ever  eat  mice  or  other  small  mammals, 
and  the  danger  of  infection  from  this  source  is  of  no  practical  impor- 
tance. It  may  be  confidently  stated  that  there  is  no  authentic  case  of 
trichinosis  in  rabbits  on  record,  except  in  those  which  have  been  pur- 
posely infected.  Until  it  can  be  shown  that  trichinae  are  actually  found 
in  our  native  species,  no  danger  need  be  apprehended  in  using  rabbits 
as  game. 

HOW  THE   GAME   IS   KILLED   AND   SHIPPED. 

It  would  be  interesting  to  know  the  extent  to  which  jack  rabbits  are 
sold  in  the  United  States,  but  unfortunately  it  is  practically  impossi- 
ble to  obtain  complete  statistics.  All  that  is  possible  is  to  cite  a  few 
cases  which  will  give  some  idea  of  the  business.  A  correspondent  in 
Goshen,  Gal.,  states  that  he  sent  at  one  time  (February  10,  1889),  after 


^or  a  popular  account  of  these  'blisters'  see  an  article  entitled  "Csenurus  of 
the  Hare,"  by  Katherine  Brandegee,  in  Zoe,  Vol.  I,  Nov.,  1890,  pp.  265-268. 

2 This  list  of  hosts  of  Tcenia  scrialis  has  been  kindly  furnished  by  Dr.  C.  Wardell 
Stiles,  Zoologist  of  the  Bureau  of  Animal  Industry,  U.  S.  Dept.  of  Agriculture. 


WHERE    RABBITS    ARE    KILLED    FOR    MARKET.  73 

one  of  the  large  drives,  as  many  as  400  jack  rabbits  to  the  San  Fran- 
cisco market.  In  the  fall  of  1892  one  of  his  neighbors  made  a  business 
of  market  hunting,  sometimes  killing  six  dozen  jack  rabbits  per  day, 
and  in  one  week  he  secured  20  dozen.  This  man  shot  from  a  one  horse 
buckboard,  and  nearly  all  the  game  was  retrieved  and  brought  to  the 
wagon  by  his  setter.  During  the  autumn  of  L894  three  men  and  a  boy 
killed  about  200  rabbits  per  day  and  sent  them  to  San  Francisco.  The 
shipments  from  Goshen  during  the  month  of  November  L804,  amounted 
to  about  1,000  jack  rabbits,  weighing  3,800  pounds. 

Two  hunters  in  Kern  County,  Cal.,  made  a  series  of  thirteen  rabbit 
drives  last  winter  for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  rabbits  for  market. 
These  drives  were  made  in  various  localities  near  Delano,  beginning  on 
November  14,  1894.  More  than  25,000  jack  rabbits  were  secured  and 
about  two-thirds  of  them  were  shipped,  bringing  from  5<>  cents  bo  -^  1 .25 
per  dozen  in  San  Francisco.  The  venture,  however,  proved  nnsuccess 
ful,  as  the  expenses  for  sacks,  twine,  commission,  and  transportation 
amounted  to  01  cents  per  dozen  and  many  of  the  rabbits  spoiled  in 
transit.  It  was  claimed  that  if  the  bounty  had  not  been  removed  there 
would  have  been  a  profit  instead  of  a  loss. 

Many  jack  rabbits  are  shipped  to  market  from  Kansas.  Norton, 
Winona,  and  other  places  in  the  western  part  of  the  State  send  the 
game  to  Denver,  while  from  points  in  central  and  southern  Kansas  a 
good  deal  is  shipped  direct  to  New  York  and  other  Eastern  cities. 
A  commission  merchant  in  Great  Bend,  Kans.,  states  that  he  shipped 
about  4,200  jack  rabbits  (350  dozen)  during  the  winter  of  1893-94  and 
about  0,000  (500  dozen)  during  the  winter  of  1894-95.  Most  of  this 
game  was  sent  to  Kansas  City,  Chicago,  New  York,  Baltimore,  and 
Boston.  Considerable  quantities  are  also  shipped  to  the  New  York 
market  from  Independence,  Kans.  A  single  invoice  of  several  hundred 
pair  was  received  from  that  point  in  the  winter  of  1889-90,  and  a  com- 
mission merchant  writes  that  his  shipments  from  Independence  have 
been  increasing  gradually  during  the  last  few  years  at  the  rate  of  200 
to  300  per  year.  In  the  winter  of  1894-95  he  shipped  about  1,000  jack 
rabbits  direct  to  New  York.  McPherson  County  is  one  of  the  main 
shipping  centers  iu  the  State,  and  a  dealer  in  Marquette  writes  that  he 
handled  2,046  jack  rabbits  last  season.  The  freight  traffic  manager  of 
the  Atchison,  Topeka  and  Santa  Fe  Railroad  reports  that  three  car- 
loads were  forwarded  from  McPherson  in  the  winter  of  1893-94,  two 
consigned  to  Chicago  and  one  to  New  York.  Last  season  the  McPher- 
son Produce  Company  handled  7,927  jack  rabbits,  and  the  total  ship- 
ments from  that  place  average  about  live  carloads,  or  20,000  rabbits  a 
season,  75  per  cent  being  sent  to  New  York.  The  game  is  not  often  for- 
warded in  carload  lots,  but  is  usually  shipped  with  dressed  poultry  in 
ordinary  refrigerator  cars. 

The  Black-eared  Jack  Rabbit  |  Lepus  melanotic)  is  the  principal  species 
shipped  from  Kansas,  but  the  white-tailed  Prairie  Hare  (  L.  oampestrii 


74  JACK    RABBITS    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 

is  sold  in  even  greater  numbers  in  Eastern  cities,  and  the  bulk  of  the 
supply  probably  conies  from  the  Dakotas,  Nebraska,  Minnesota,  and 
Iowa.  In  Newcastle,  Wyo.,  a  single  hunter  killed  over  100  Prairie 
Hares  for  market  during  the  season  of  1893-94.  One  dealer  in  Pier- 
point,  Day  County,  S.  Dak.,  reports  that  he  has  shipped  from  1,200  to 
1,500  per  annum  for  the  last  three  years,  and  a  correspondent  in  Water- 
town,  S.  Dak.,  writes  that  probably  50,000  rabbits  were  killed  in  Cod- 
ington County,  S.  Dak.,  last  season,  although  not  all  were  used  for 
food.  The  severe  winter  following  the  drought  of  1894  resulted  in  the 
destruction  of  larger  numbers  than  usual,  and  no  doubt  many  persons 
in  Dakota  and  Nebraska  gladly  availed  themselves  of  this  source  of 
supply. 

As  already  stated,  part  of  the  game  in  California  is  secured  by 
means  of  rabbit  drives.  In  eastern  Colorado  large  quantities  are  killed 
during  the  annual  hunts  at  Lamar  and  Las  Animas,  but  as  the  rabbits 
are  killed  for  sport,  and  not  especially  for  market,  many  of  them  are 
donated  to  the  poor  of  Denver  and  Pueblo.  In  Kansas  large  numbers 
of  jack  rabbits  are  killed  after  heavy  snowfalls,  and  in  Chautauqua  and 
Montgomery  counties  it  is  said  that  the  farmers  sometimes  bring  them 
in  by  the  wagon  load;  the  hunters  usually  receive  about  10  cents  apiece 
for  them.  Near  McPherson  one  method  of  hunting  is  to  stretch  a  wire 
between  two  wagons  about  200  yards  apart,  and  allow  it  to  drag  in  the 
grass  or  stubble  as  they  proceed.  As  the  rabbits  are  started  they  are 
shot  from  the  wagons  or  by  two  hunters  who  follow  behind.  In  this 
vicinity  the  prices  vary  from  15  cents  apiece  in  October,  down  to  5 
cents  in  January. 

Jack  rabbits  are  shipped  to  market  either  by  express  or  freight.  At 
Goshen,  Cal.,  they  are  cleaned  and  hung  up  over  night  to  cool  off,  and 
are  then  simply  placed  in  barley  sacks  (each  holding  from  25  to  30), 
and  sent  by  express.  Kansas  shippers  usually  forward  the  game  by 
ordinary  freight  during  cold  weather,  but  at  other  times  in  refrigerator 
cars.  Some  pack  the  rabbits  without  ice  in  boxes  holding  from  2J 
to  3  dozen  each;  others  wrap  the  game  in  paper  or  excelsior  and  pack 
it  in  barrels  containing  4  or  5  dozen  rabbits.  Another  method  is 
simply  to  cord  them  up  in  refrigerator  cars,  thus  saving  the  cost  of 
packages  and  packing. 

THE    MARKET. 

Jack  rabbits  usually  bring  from  75  cents  to  $3  per  dozen,  depending 
on  the  demand  and  the  expense  of  shipping.  In  some  cases  they  are 
sold  at  a  much  higher  figure.  During  the  winter  of  1890  some  black- 
tailed  jack  rabbits  were  sold  at  retail  in  the  New  York  market  at  $1.50 
per  pair,1  and  in  December  1895,  a  few  Prairie  Hares  were  retailed  in 
the  Washington  market  at  $1  apiece. 

Yearns,  Bull.  Am.  Mus.  Nat.  Hist.,  II,  Feb.,  1890,  p.  298,  footnote. 


MARKETS   AND    PRICES. 


75 


The  following  table  shows  the  ordinary  market  prices  in  some  of  the 
larger  cities  for  the  season  of  1894-9.") : 

Market  Prices  of  Jack  Rabbit*,  1894 


City. 

Date. 

l'n:  e  per  pair. 

i'ii« ■«   pet 
dozen. 

pri<  e    per 
dozen  dnr- 

i  -mi. 

San  Francisco,  Cal 

Oct.  20   1894 

.  75    I.  00 

.75-  1.00 

LOO 

\ 

Oct  27   Nov.  24,  1894 

Jan  12, 1895 

i     -l.uij 

( 

Feb.  9  1896 

I 

1  25 

Chicago,  111 < 

Dec.  1,  1894 

Dec.  15,  1S94 

Feb.  23-Mar.  2,  1895 



2.  On 

1.50    2.00 
1.75-  2.50 

\  1.5C 

St    Paul   Minn   

i  2.00-  2.75 
1.75    :i.oO 



2  25 

Jan.  26-Feb.  2,  1895 

Dec.22,1894 

Dec.  29. 1 894 

$0. 25-|0.  50 
.40-    .60 

. 40-     .  55 

] .  51 1 

X.w  York,  X.Y 5 

Washington,  D.  C 



I  2.40-  3.45 
3.00 

Jan.  26- Feb.  2,  1895 

3.00 

*  Returns  for  Boston,  New  York,  and  Chicago  arc  taken  from  the  market  review  in  the  American 
Agriculturist,  Vols.  LIV  and  LV;  for  San  Francisco,  from  the  Pacific  Rural  Press,  Vois.  \  I,  VIII  and 
XI.IX:  figures  lor  St.  Louis  have  been  kindly  furnished  by  the  St.  Louis  Poultry  and  Game  Company; 
for  St.  Paul,  by  B,  E.  Cobb:  for  New  Orleans,  by  Messrs. H.  ^  S.  lilum,  and  fox  Denver,  by  II,  0. 
Mungcr  &  Co. 

As  might  naturally  be  supposed,  some  of  the  largest  markets  for 
jack  rabbits  are  in  the  cities  of  California  where  the  game  is  sold  at  a 
lower  price  than  elsewhere.  San  Francisco  probably  uses  more  than 
any  other  single  city  in  the  United  States,  and  it  is  said  that  this  game 
is  received  during  the  winter  months  at  the  rate  of  100  to  160  dozen 
per  day.  An  estimate  obtained  by  the  board  of  trade  from  the  com- 
mission merchants  places  the  total  number  consumed  per  annum  at 
about  96,000.  The  game  is  supplied  principally  by  the  counties  of 
Fresno,  Merced,  and  Tulare,  in  the  San  Joaquin  Valley.  Los  Angeles 
is  supplied  by  the  southern  counties  of  Los  Angeles,  Orange,  River- 
side, San  Bernardino,  and  San  Diego.  The  number  sold  as  estimated 
by  the  Chamber  of  Commerce,  averages  from  12  to  15  dozen  per  week 
the  year  round,  or  approximately  7,500  to  9,200  per  annum,  most  of 
which  is  received  during  the  winter  months. 

An  estimate  furnished  by  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  places  the  num- 
ber of  jack  rabbits  sold  in  Salt  Lake  City.  Utah,  during  the  winter  of 
1894-95  at  10,000  to  15,000.  Many  more  were  given  away,  and  the  sec- 
retary, Mr.  E.  F.  Colburn.  explains  that  perhaps  more  were  consumed 
than  usual,  owing  to  the  fact  that  the  rabbits  were  slaughtered  in  large 
numbers  in  regular  hunts  and  were  donated  to  the  poor.  In  Denver. 
Colo.,  large  numbers  of  jack  rabbits  are  donated  to  the  poor,  but  many 
are  also  sold  as  game.  One  commission  house  reports  that  for  the  last 
ten  years  they  have  handled  from  13,000  to  15,000 each  season,  although 
large  quantities  are  rarely  found  in  market  at  any  one  time.  The  game 
comes  from  the  eastern  part  of  the  State  and  from  western  Nebraska 
and  Kansas.     Omaha,  Nebr.,  is  supplied  by  the  western   part  of  the 


76 


JACK    RABBITS    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


State  and  by  Wyoming,  largely  from  the  region  between  the  Fremont, 
Elkhorn  and  Missouri  Valley  and  the  Burlington  and  Missouri  Eiver 
railroads.  No  reliable  statistics  of  the  number  consumed  in  Kansas 
City,  Mo.,  are  at  hand,  the  estimates  ranging  from  a  few  hundred  dozen 
up  to  about  75,000. 

Texas  probably  furnishes  most  of  the  rabbits  sold  in  the  markets  of 
its  principal  towns  as  well  as  some  of  those  in  New  Orleans.  Only  a 
limited  number  of  'jacks'  are  used  in  New  Orleans — probably  not  more 
than  25  per  cent  of  the  total  number  of  rabbits  sold — and  these  are 
shipped  mainly  from  points  along  the  Kansas  City,  Fort  Scott  and 
Memphis  Railroad. 

Minneapolis  and  St.  Paul,  Minn.,  receive  their  main  shipments  from 
North  and  South  Dakota  and  Minnesota.  It  is  reported  that  12,000  j  ack  ■ 
rabbits  (1,000  dozen)  were  handled  by  a  single  commission  house  in  St. 
Paul  during  last  winter,  probably  nine-tenths  of  which  were  obtained 
from  the  Dakotas,  the  remainder  being  received  from  Minnesota  and 
Iowa. 

Estimates  of  the  number  of  jack  rabbits  sold  in  the  markets  of  some 
of  the  cities  west  of  the  Mississippi  Eiver  have  been  obtained  from 
boards  of  trade,  chambers  of  commerce,  or  reliable  commission  mer- 
chants, and  are  shown  in  the  following  table.  Such  figures  are  only 
approximate,  but  in  most  cases  are  based  on  the  sales  of  the  season  of 
1894-95: 

Estimates  of  Jack  Rabbits  sold  in  Western  Cities. 


City. 

Number  of 
rabbits. 

Authority. 

7, 500-9,  200 

96, 000 

30, 000 

1,000 

2,500 

25, 000 

*  12,  000 

1 25,  000 

35,  000 

60,  000 

10, 000-15,  000 

H.  O.  Munger  «fc  Co. 

Pueblo,  Colo 

R.  E.  Cobb. 

St.  Louis  Poultry  and  Game  Co. 

Peycke  Bros. 
J.  P.  White. 

Salt  Lake  City,  Utah 

Handled  by  a  single  commission  house. 


t  Approximate. 


Most  of  the  jack  rabbits  sold  in  Chicago,  St.  Louis,  New  York, 
Boston,  Philadelphia,  Baltimore,  and  Washington  seem  to  come  from 
the  Great  Plains — from  Kansas  to  North  Dakota — but  the  attempt  to 
secure  accurate  statistics  from  Eastern  cities  is  almost  hopeless,  as 
quantities  of  the  large  Varying  Hares  (Lepus  amcricanus)  are  also 
received  and  sold  indiscriminately  with  jack  rabbits  under  the  name  of 
hares. 

These  data  will  give  some  idea  of  the  extent  to  which  jack  rabbits 
are  shipped  to  market.  The  total  number  sold  in  the  cities  men- 
tioned above  is  about  300,000.  Allowing  an  equal  number  for  local 
consumption  in  small  towns  and  for  those  sold  in  other  cities  would 


CONSUMPTION    OF    RABBITS    IN    AUSTRALIA. 


77 


give  600,000  as  a  very  rough  approximation  of  the  total  Dumber  con- 
sumed in  the  United  States  per  annum.    Estimated  al  the  rate  of  $1.50 

to  82  per  dozen  the  total  value  would  be  about  $75,000  or  $100,000. 
This,  however,  is  only  a  small  proportion  of  the  total  Dumber  of  rabbits 
used  as  game,  since  cottontails  are  sold  everywhere  in  much  larger 
quantities. 

In  connection  with  these  figures  it  will  be  interesting  to  compare  the 
number  of  rabbits  sold  in  one  of  the  large  cities  of  Australia.  Mel- 
bourne, the  capital  of  Victoria,  according  to  the  census  of  L891,  had  a 
population  of  490,896 — somewhat  more  than  that  of  Sail  Francisco,  OaL 
The  following  table  from  the  Victorian  Year  Book  for  L893(Vol.  II.  p.262) 
shows  the  number  of  rabbits  sold  in  Melbourne  during  the  seven  years 
from  1886  to  1893: 

Number  of  Babbits  shipped  t>>  markets  of  Melbourne,  Australia, 


Yea*. 


Number  of  coaplea  of  rabbita — 


Sold. 


Con- 
demned. 


1886-87 346, 856  4,4 60 

1887-88 '  418. 618  L',  Trl 

1888-89. 474,384  13,458 

1889-90 606, 568  11, 567 

L890-91 676,796  5,955 

1891-92 '  572,426  17.977 

1892-93 617,773  19,275 

Total  couples 3,  713,  421 

Total  rabbits 7.  420.  842  149,  928 

Average  per  annum 1,060,977  21,418 


Total. 


351,316 
420,890 

618,  135 

e^.-,75i 

590,  103 

- 


74.  '.-•,!         :;.  788,385 


7.  576,  770 


Evidently  rabbits  are  more  extensively  used  for  food  in  Australia 
than  in  this  country,  but  in  comparing  the  figures  it  should  be  remem- 
bered that  the  statistics  for  Melbourne  include  the  total  number  of 
rabbits  sold,  whereas  those  given  for  jack  rabbits  consumed  in  the 
cities  of  the  United  States  represent  only  a  part  of  the  rabbits  sold. 

England  imports,  it  is  said,  about  124,000  hundredweight  of  rabbits 
yearly  for  food,  which  are  valued  at  £:>42,000.1 

So  far  as  known,  little  or  nothing  has  been  done  in  the  United  States 
in  the  way  of  canning  jack  rabbits,  although  the  subject  has  been 
discussed  occasionally.  When  rabbit  driving  was  being  agitated  in 
Tulare  County,  Gal.,  the  Visalia  Delta  of  January  20,  1SSS.  published  an 
article  on  "Money  in  Kabbits,"  which  advocated  canning  some  <>f  the 
jack  rabbits  which  were  being  killed  in  large  numbers  at  that  time.  The 
article  was  based  mainly  on  statistics  of  the  industry  in  New  Zealand, 
and  apparently  the  suggestion  has  never  been  adopted,  at  least  Dot  on  a 
commercial  scale.  After  making  special  inquiries  concerning  the  utili- 
zation of  rabbits.  Mr.  0.  I>.  Willard.  secretary  of  the  Los  Angeles 
Chamber  of  Commerce,  reports:  "No  use  whatever  i-  made  of  the 


Sinmionds,  Commercial  Dictionary  of  Trade  Products,  London.  1892, 


78  JACK   RABBITS    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 

skins  here,  and  as  far  as  1  can  learn  no  one  has  ever  heard  of  canning 
the  meat."  Mr.  D.  11.  Payne,  of  Independence,  Oal.,  writes  under  date 
of  September  18, 1S95:  "Many  years  ago  there  was  a  cannery  engaged 
in  putting  up  all  kinds  of  wild  game,  and  probably  they  used  some 
jack  rabbits,  but  during  my  long  residence  in  California  I  never  saw 
them  in  the  market  put  up  in  cans." 

There  seems  no  good  reason  why  rabbits  can  not  be  profitably 
canned,  and  some  commission  merchants  claim  that  this  would  relieve 
the  glut  in  the  market  at  certain  times  in  winter  and  bring  about 
better  prices.  Several  preserving  companies  are  in  operation  in  Vic- 
toria and  in  New  Zealand.  In  October,  1886,  Hon.  James  M.  Morgan, 
then  United  States  consul- general  at  Melbourne,  Australia,  reported 
that  "in  the  Golac  and  Camperdown  district  [Victoria]  a  preserving 
factory  was  started  some  few  years  back  and  operations  carried  on  with 
vigor,  the  factory  working  each  year  for  about  six  months,  from  March 
to  October,  and  during  that  period  purchasing  from  750,000  to  1,000,000 
rabbits,  the  price  paid  being  about  2s.  6d.  per  dozen.  These  rabbits 
are  nearly  all  obtained  from  the  stony  rises  and  surrounding  districts, 
as  they  can  not  be  sent  to  the  factory  in  proper  condition  from  any 
great  distance."  (U.  S.  Consular  Eepts.  for  Dec,  1886,  XX,  pp.  482-481.) 

GENERAL   SUMMARY  AND   CONCLUSIONS. 

(1)  The  various  species  of  jack  rabbits  are  all  more  or  less  alike  in 
habits,  and  all  feed  largely  on  bark  and  herbage. 

(2)  When  food  is  easily  obtained,  and  particularly  on  newly  culti- 
vated land,  the  rabbits  increase  rapidly  and  do  great  damage  to  crops. 
The  black-tailed  species  are  more  gregarious  than  the  Prairie  Hare, 
and  as  a  rule  are  more  destructive. 

(3)  The  best  means  of  protecting  crops  from  the  attacks  of  rabbits, 
and  in  fact  the  only  method  which  can  be  relied  on,  is  the  use  of 
rabbit-proof  fences. 

(4)  Under  favorable  circumstances  great  numbers  of  jack  rabbits 
may  be  killed  by  drives  or  large  hunts,  but  this  means  will  only  serve 
to  reduce  their  numbers,  and  can  not  be  used  to  exterminate  the  pests. 

(5)  Bounties  or  other  direct  expenditures  of  public  money  for  the 
destruction  of  rabbits  have  failed  to  accomplish  the  desired  object. 
Bounty  laws  afford  unusual  opportunities  for  fraud,  and  the  amounts 
expended  are  often  so  large  as  to  be  a  serious  burden  on  the  county  or 
State. 

(6)  The  extermination  of  rabbits  can  only  be  accomplished  by  coop- 
eration on  the  part  of  individual  farmers  or  landowners.  The  work  of 
destruction  can  be  most  effectually  and  economically  done  when  the 
animals  have  suffered  an  unusual  decrease  in  numbers,  either  from  a 
severe  winter,  lack  of  food,  or  an  epidemic. 

(7)  Commercial  utilization  is  the  most  promising  and  least  expensive 
method  of  keeping  these  pests  in  check  in  localities  where  they  are 


CONCLUSIONS.  79 

unusually  abundant;  but  returns  from  this  source  will  only  partially 

offset  the  losses  sustained  on  account  of  injuries  to  crops. 

(8)  Jack  rabbits  may  be  used  for  coursing,  for  their  skins,  or  for  food. 
The  United  States  imports  annually  millions  of  rabbit  skins  for  fell 
and  other  purposes.  The  skins  of  jack  rabbits  could  probably  be 
used  for  many  purposes  for  which  the  cheaper  grades  of  imported 
skins  are  now  utilized,  and  could  be  collected  so  cheaply  as  to  leave  a 
margin  of  profit. 

(9)  The  consumption  of  jack  rabbits  for  food  amounts  to  about 
600,000  per  annum,  and  is  gradually  increasing.  This  game  can  be 
obtained  in  considerable  quantities  on  the  plains  and  on  the  deserts  of 
the  Great  Basin,  and  may  be  profitably  shipped  to  Eastern  markets  to 
the  mutual  benefit  of  the  farmer  and  the  consumer. 

(10)  In  America  the  rabbit  question  never  has,  and  probably  never 
will,  assume  the  proportions  it  has  assumed  in  Australia.  The  jack 
rabbits  of  the  United  States  are  all  indigenous  species  and  ordinarily 
are  held  in  check  by  natural  enemies  and  by  disease.  Although  local 
conditions  may  sometimes  favor  their  temporary  increase,  yet  natural 
agencies,  aided  by  the  persistent  and  constantly  increasing  war  of 
extermination,  are  gradually,  but  none  the  less  surely,  diminishing  their 
numbers. 


ARTICLES  ON  RABBITS. 

Tbe  following  list  contains  references  to  only  a  few  of  the  more 
important  articles  on  jack  rabbits  and  the  rabbit  pest  in  Australia.  Some 
of  these  papers  have  been  referred  to  in  scattered  footnotes,  but  are  here 
grouped  under  several  headings  for  convenience  of  reference.  Yery 
little  has  been  published  on  rabbit  driving,  and  this  mainly  in  the  form 
of  brief  notes  and  descriptions  of  single  drives  which  are  mentioned 
below. 

COMMERCIAL  UTILIZATION. 

Griffin,  G.  W.,  The  Rabbit  Skin  Trade  of  New  Zealand,  U.  S.  Consular  Repts.,  XIX, 
May,  1882,  pp.  118-122. 
Poland,  Henry,  Fur-Bearing  Animals,  1892. 

COURSING. 

American  Field,  XXX,  1888,  p.  504;  XXXIII,  1890,  pp.  395-396,  and  subsequent 
volumes. 

H[older],  C.  F.,  Mounted  Sport  in  California,  Forest  and  Stream,  XXVIII,  1887, 
pp.  2-3. 

DESCRIPTIONS   OF   SPECIES  AND   GEOGRAPHIC   DISTRIBUTION. 

Allen,  J.  A.,  Proc.  Boston  Soc.  Nat.  Hist.,  1875,  pp.  430-436.  Monographs  N.  Am. 
Rodentia,  1877. 

Audubon  and  Bachrnan,  Quadrupeds  of  N.  Am.,  Vols.  I— III,  1851. 

Bachnian,  John,  Jour.  Acad.  Nat.  Sci.,  Phila.,  VII,  pt.  II,  1837,  p.  282  et  seq;  VIII, 
1839,  p.  75  et  seq. 

Baird,  S.  F.,  Mammals  N.  Am.,  1857. 

Gray,  J.  E.,  Charlesw.  Mag.  Nat.  Hist.,  I,  1837,  586-587  (Lepus  californicus). 
Ann.  and  Mag.  Nat.  Hist.,  3d  ser.,  XX,  1867,  pp.  221-225. 

Lewis  and  Clark  Exped.,  Coues'  edition,  Vol.  Ill,  1893,  pp.  865-866  (Prairie  Hare\ 

Mearns,  E.  A.,  Bull.  Am.  Mus.  Nat.  Hist.,  New  York,  II,  Feb.,  1890,  pp.  294-304 
(Lepus  alleni  and  L.  melanotis). 

Waterhouse,  G.  R.,  Nat.  Hist.  Mamm.,  II,  Rodentia,  1848. 

DISEASES,    INOCULATION,    AND   PARASITES. 

Brandegee,  Katherine,  Cfenurus  of  the  Hare,  Zoe,  I,  Nov.,  1890,  p.  265-268. 

Progress  Rept.  Roy.  Comm.  Inquiry  Exterm.  Rabbits  in  Australasia,  1890,  pp.  138- 
215. 

Rept.  to  the  Legislative  Assembly  of  New  South  Wales  on  the  Rabbit  Pest,  1888, 
pp.  1-17. 

Thomas,  A.  P.  W.,  Report  on  Rabbit  Nuisance  in  Wairarapa  District,  New  Zea- 
land, 1888,  pp.  1-7;  1889,  pp.  1-14. 

DRIVES  AND   HUNTS. 

[Editorial]  Driving  the  Jack  Rabbits,  San  Francisco  Mining  and  Scientific  Press, 
Jan.  28,  1888,  p.  51  (Bakersfield,  Cal.). 

Fremont,  J.  C,  Expl.  Exped.  to  Oregon  and  California,  1845,  p.  227. 

Greene,  C.  S.,  Rabbit  Driving  in  the  San  Joaquin  Valley,  Overland  Monthly,  XX, 
July,  1892,  pp.  49-58  (Traver,  Cal.). 
80 


ARTICLES    ON    BABBIT8.  81 

Manly,  W.  L.,  Death  Valley  in  '49,  p.  110  (near  Little  Sail  Lake,  Utah). 

Sayers,  R.  II.,  A.Jack  Rabbit  Hunt,  Am.  Field,  XLI,  No.  10,  .Mar.  L0,  L894,  p.  222 
i  Lamar,  Colo.). 

Scientific  American,  LXI,  Nov.  19,  L889,  p.295  (Wildflower,  Cal.). 

Shooting  and  Fishing,  XV,  L894,  pp.  221,  303;  XIX,  Jan.  2,  L896,  p.  225  i  Lamai, 
Colo.).  m 

Townsend,  C.  1 1..  A  .lack  Rabbit  Drive,  Forest  and  Stream, XXXVIII,  Mar.  3, 1892, 
p.  197  (near  Fresno,  Cal. ). 

Townsend,  J.  K.,  Narrative  of  a  Journey  Across  the  Rocky  Mountains,  L839,  p.  327. 

White,  N.  E.,  A  California  Rabbit  Round-up,  Am.  Field,  XXX,  Nov.  :;.  L888,  p. 
410  (Bakersfield,  Cal.) 


Coues,  E.,  American  Rabbits  or  Hares.  Am.  sportsman.  Aug.  29,  1ST  I. 
Cones,  E.,  Habits  of  the    Prairie   Hare,  Bull.  Esses  Institute,  VII  (1875),  1876,  pp. 
73-85. 
Cones.  E.,  Am. Naturalist,  I.  Dec,  1867,  pp.  531-534  I  Lepua  texianus). 
Van  Dyke,  T.  B.,  Southern  California.  1886, pp.  130-132. 

RABBITS    IX   AUSTRALIA. 

Final  Rept.  Roy. Comm.  Inquiry  Exterm.  Rabbits  Australasia,  1890,  pp.  1-20. 

Morgan,  J.  M..  The  Rabbit  Test  in  Victoria.  CJ.  s.  Consular  Repts.,  Vol.  XX,  No.  72. 
Dec,  1886,  pp.  182-484. 

Progress  Rept.  Roy.  Comm.  Enquiry  Exterm.  Rabbits  Australasia,  1890,  pp.  1-216. 

Rept.  Comm.  Legislative  Council  New  South  Wales  on  Rabbit  Nuisance  Ac1  of  1883, 
lssT,  pp.  1-46. 

Rept.  Proo.  Conference  Rabbit  Pest  in  New  South  Wales.  1895,  pp.  L— 33. 

Wealth  and  Progress,  New  South  Wales  (Annual  Volumes). 

Yearbooks  of  Australia  and  of  the  separate  Colonies. 

801.")— No.  8 G 


N  I)  E  X 


Page. 
Abundance 24-25 

Ad. i  County,  Idaho,  bounty 41-42 

All. ns  Jack  Kahl.it 22-2:5 

Arizona  Indian  drives 4!) 

Australia,  commercial  utilization  in G">.  To.  77 

expenditures 43-44 

export  of  skins 70 

introduction  of  rabbits 43 

legislation  in 43-44. 

met  hods  of  destruction 37,  39 

rabbit  fences 43-44 

Bibliography 80-81 

Black-tailed  .lack  Rabbit 19-21 

Bladder  worm 36 

Bounties 40-43 

California 40-41 

Idaho 41-42 

i  Oregon 42 

Texas 42 

Utah 43 

Breeding  habits 25-29 

Butte  County,  Cal.,  bounty 40,41 

OamuruM 30,72 

California,  abundance  in 24-25 

bounties 40-41 

coursing  in  66-68 

depredations 13,32 

drives,  list  of 55-57 

epidemics 45-46 

limits  by  Indians 48 

Jack  Rabbit 17-19 

market  s  for  rabbits 74-77 

summary  of  drives 58 

Canning  rabbits 77-78 

Capture  of  rabbits  for  soursing 53,67 

Change  of  pelage 14,15 

Chicken  cholera 36 

■  i  in  'i  ri  for  me 37 

Colorado  hunts 63-64 

markets 64,  74 

( !oluea  County,  Cal.,  bounty 40 

Commercial  utilization  of  rabbits —  37,65,70,77 

Corrals  for  rabbil  drives 4(.».  50 

County  ordinances 41 

Coursing 66-68 

capture  of  rabbits  for 53, 67 

Coyote  bounty  law 45 

Wa -10.72 

mil 37 

Depredations 13 

Desert  hare 19 


Diseases.    [See  Epidemics.) 

Destruction  of  rabbits  by  cold 42 

by  epidemics 15  it; 

Distribution  11,15,17,20,22 

Dri\  es.  best  time  for 29,  59 

California 17  59 

early 52  53 

history  of 17-49 

Idaho 62  63 

Indian 17    lit 

largest 54,64 

listof 55  r>7 

method  of  conducting 17-52 

objections  to 

<  Oregon 59 

origin  of 47 

results  of 57-59,  04 

Enemies  of  rabbits u  i"> 

Epidemics 15-46 

Expenditures  in   Australia  for  destruction 

of  rabbits 43-44 

Felt,  made  from  rabbit  skins 69 

Fences,  rabbit  proof 33  -34 

for  drives 19  50 

in  Australia 34.  43-44 

substitute  for :!4 

Food  of  rabbits 12-13 

Fresno  County.  Cal.,  abundance  in 32 

bounty 40 

drives 54,  55 

Fur,  rabbit  skins  for 09 

Game 71-77 

how  killed  and  shipped 72-74 

market    for 74  78 

General  habits 11-13 

Goshen  rabbit  drive  club 49 

Crease  for  smearing  trees 35 

Hare.  Desert 19 

Prairie 14-17 

Hunts,  Colorado 

Idaho 62  63 

Indian 

Utah  60-62 

summary  of 64 

Idaho,   bounties 41-42 

depredations 31 

drives 02  63 

Indian  methods  of  hunting 17-49 

met  hods  of  preparing  skins 

Injury  to  crops I 

in  Australia 32 

83 


84 


INDEX. 


Tage. 

Inoculation 36-37 

I.i  "iii  a 71 

Kansas,  ooursing  in 66-68 

shipments  from 73 

Lake  County,  Oreg.,  bounty 42 

drives 59 

Lascelles'  process  of  preparing  phosphorus.       39 

Lepus  ulli'ni 22-23 

americanus 69 

californicus 17-19,  72 

ca  mpestris '. 14-17, 72-74 

cuniculus 25,  43,  72 

melanotis 21-22,  74 

texianus 19-21 

texianus  eremicus 19 

timidus 25, 72 

Market  for  jack  rabbits 74-76 

in  Australia 77 

prices 75 

shipment  to 73 

Methods  of  destruction : 

Australian 37-38 

bounties 40-43 

drives 47-52 

hunts 47,  48,  60-64 

inoculation 36-37 

poison 38-39 

Modoc  County,  Cal.,  abundance  in 24 

bounty 40 

drives 54,  56 

New  South  Wales,  expenditures  in 43-44 

reward  offered  by  Government 36 

New  Zealand,  expenditures  in 44 

export  of  skins 70 

Oregon,  bounties 42 

drives 48,  59 

Parasites 1 71-72 

Phosphorus 39 

Summary  and  conclusions 78-79 

Poison,  danger  of  using 38 

phosphorus 39 

strychnine. 38-39 

Potash  for  smearing  trees : 35 

Prairie  Hare 14-17 

Protection  of  orchards  32-35 

by  fences 32-34 

by  smears 34-35 

Quassia  for  smearing  trees 35 

Queensland,  expenditures  in 43,  44 

Rabbit  day  in  Colorado 63 

Rabbit  measles 37 

scab 36,  37 


Page. 
Reward  offered   by  New   South   Wales  for 

destruction  of  rabbits 36 

San  Bernardino  County,  Cal.,  bonntj 40 

San    Joaquin    Valley,  Cal..    abundance    of 

rabbits  in 20-21.24.32 

drives 47.  49-54 

shipments  from 67,  73 

Skins,  exported  from  Australia 70 

consumption  of,  in  United  States 69.  71 

imported  by  England 70 

uses  of i      69 

Smears \  4-35 

South  Australia,  expenditures  in .•    44 

export  of*  skins 70 

Species  found  in  United  States 13-14 

Allen's  Hare 14, 22-23 

Black-eared  Jack 14,  21-22 

Black-tailed  Jack  Rabbit 14. 19-21 

California  Jack  Rabbit 17-19 

Eastern  Jackass  Hare 14.  21-22 

Prairie  Hare 14-17 

Texan  Jack  Rabbit 14. 19-21 

White-tailed  Jack  Rabbit 14-17 

Strychnine 38-39 

Taenia  serialis 72 

Tapeworms  in  rabbits 72 

Tasmania,  expenditures  in 43, 44 

export  of  skins 70 

Texas,  bounties 42 

depredations  in 30-31 

Ticks 71 

Tintinallogy  disease 36  -37 

Tree  protectors .     24 

Trichinosis .- 72 

Tulare  County,  Cal.,  bounties 41 

drives 49-50,  53,  56-57 

injury  to  crops •    32 

Utah,  bounties 43 

hunts 60-C2 

depredations  in 31 

Value  of  jack  rabbits 65-77 

Varying  Hare,  export  of  skins  from  America        ti9 

Victoria,  canning  rabbits  in 78 

depredations 32 

expenditures  in 43.  44 

export  of  skins 70 

introduction  of  rabbits 43 

Warbles  in  rabbits 46, 72 

Washington,  depredations  in 31 

Young,  number  of 26-27 

time  of  birth 27-29 


UNIVERSITY  OF  FLORIDA 

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